Love it or hate it, 81-Test All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane brings attention to himself and his team, whether it’s through his social media posts, after match antics, or on-the-field performances.
Many fans and players nowadays take to social media to post about the game, bringing all sorts of discussion to the table from all around the world.
Ioane is no different, and after his off-the-field drama with Johnny Sexton, Ioane is in the thick of the action, off the field, once again.
This time, it started with Moana Pasifika and the Blues exchanging words all throughout their matchups this season on social media, including “there’s only one team that represents the Pacific,” from Moana Pasifika, and “there’s only team in the playoffs,” by the Blues.”
Ioane took to social media to hit back at some criticism, saying “should’ve killed me when you had the chance”.
The exchange has brought all sorts of attention to Ioane’s social media, and as a polarising figure, he is generating storylines and tension around Super Rugby Pacific.
Former All Blacks first-five Stephen Donald believes Ioane’s antics are doing all of the promotion for Super Rugby Pacific, creating rivalries and attention to the games.
“Yeah, we can now forget about paying marketing companies any money to promote our game, because we have Rieko Ioane and he is rugby’s best promoter,” Donald told The Breakdown on Sky Sport.
“For a long time, we haven’t really concerned ourselves in this country about the Monday to Friday storylines, and we’re worried about things like governance and Silver Lake and all these sorts of topics grab the headlines.
“I just love what Rieko’s done in the last couple of weeks, I mean, he’s been out there and if you’re a fan of the Blues, you love it, the fact that one of our stars is still up for the fight and still showing you that he is ready to scrap.
“If you’re the opposition fans, you’re going there to watch how your team reacts, see if they’re going to dish it back out. I think it is absolutely brilliant what he’s been doing like I’m a Chiefs supporter, but I went there on Saturday and was captivated by how it was all going to unfold, and Rieko had the last word.”
Former All Blacks halfback Justin Marshall is still unsure on whether he likes the social media antics but says that Ioane will have to be careful going to Leinster next year.
“But like in general, the only bad side of it is the fact that if, if you’re gonna, throw your sword around, you’ve got to be prepared to fall on it as well,” Marshall told The Breakdown.
“Look, he’s already going to have to do that, because he has to go to Leinster and obviously it was very well documented what went on there so if you start throwing that sort of stuff around, you got to be prepared to then have to wear it, should it not go as planned.”
Mils Muliaina, an All Black Centurian, agrees with Donald’s opinion, saying that Ioane’s actual posts are just backing himself, not anything else.
“What I love about it is, it’s promoting the game. But he’s actually, if you look into the things he’s saying, he’s fully backing himself, he doesn’t just put things out there,” Muliaina said.
“He actually responds to some of the sort of comments as well. So I love it, I’m with you (Donald), It wasn’t something that we sort of did, but that’s the day and age now, isn’t it?
