Rugby: Young forward's special mention

Akira Ioane on his way to scoring a brilliant try. Photo / PHOTOSPORT

In this season of almost endless mediocrity for the Blues, one thing the team's long-suffering supporters can be genuinely excited about is the emergence of young loose forward Akira Ioane.

If he opened the door a little on his talent in last weekend's defeat to the Crusaders, when he ran around All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw on one occasion and through McCaw's team-mates on many others, last night Ioane stepped over the threshold and into the limelight.

The former New Zealand sevens player's try in the second half, when he received the ball on halfway against a set defence, used a head fake to create space and ran through, outstripping wing Nick Cummins and going over in the tackle of fullback Dane Haylett Petty, was a thing of beauty - a special moment from someone who looks like a special player.

Coach John Kirwan agreed. "Pretty special, eh? I thought he stepped up again tonight. We wanted to get him in the game early.

"We're giving him licence like he does in the sevens. We're keeping him out a bit wider so he can create mis-matches. He's excelling at it. But the thing I liked was what he was doing in the tight - working hard, making tackles, just being physical.

"He's got a good teacher, too. Jerome [Kaino] has really taken him under his wing and raised the expectations around him."

Kaino, his hand bandaged and in a sling after he broke the ring finger on his left hand, concurred with his coach's summary. "I think he's a little bit quicker than what I was. What we've been driving into the young guys is just go out there and express yourselves. We don't really want the results of the season to burden them. He and Melani [Nanai] really played well tonight. Hopefully they can grab this form and really run with it in the next few games.

"It's good these younger guys have been part of this season and have experienced this adversity. It's character building for them. We know we've got the talent, hopefully we'll learn from this and move forward next year."

Ioane, a modest 19-year-old with the confidence and physique of a man much older, didn't want to dwell on his exploits afterwards.

Unfortunately perhaps for the Blues, he is about to be called up for New Zealand under-20 duty in a couple of weeks, meaning he will miss the remaining couple of games for his franchise.

"Hopefully I get picked. I'm not getting too ahead of myself," he said.

The other good thing about Iaone's form is that it is getting the best out of Steven Luatua. Kept on the bench by his young rival, Luatua was powerful and direct when replacing Kaino in the first half.

"We've asked him to be physical," Kirwan said. "I thought that has been lacking from his game and I thought they complemented each other."