‘Tremendous ability’ earns Ioane a call from Hansen

LONDON: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has called up 19-year-old outside back Rieko Ioane to the squad for next month’s tour of the United States and Europe.

The world champions, who became the first top tier nation to win 18 consecutive Test matches with their 37-10 victory over the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday, kick off the tour against Ireland at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Nove,ber 5.

They face Italy a week later in Rome, Ireland again on November 19 in Dublin, before rounding out the tour in Paris against France the following Saturday.

Hansen said the tour represented another step in the “re-establishment” of the side following the loss of six stalwarts, including all-time greats Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, after the 2015 World Cup.

“We welcome in Rieko, who has been picked for the first time. He has shown tremendous abilities and deserves his opportunity,” Hansen said. “Younger players will get more experience within the All Blacks environment, and it’ll allow the selectors and coaching group to keep working on blending the mixture of young talent with the more experienced players in our group.

“This will allow our game to continue to improve and will help ensure the team is future-proofed.”

Sonny Bill Williams, Charlie Ngatai and Nehe Milner-Skudder were not considered for the touring party due to injuries.

After setting a new mark for consecutive top tier victories, the All Blacks are now closing in on the overall test record held by Cyprus, who won 24 straight by beating the likes of Austria, Bulgaria and Luxembourg before their streak was snapped by Latvia in November 2014. – Reuters

Meanwhile, Australia coach Michael Cheika was left incandescent with rage in the coach’s box soon after halftime when Australia had a Henry Speight try, which would have levelled the scores, disallowed for the obstruction of a potential tackler.

After the match, though, his major concern appeared to be an illustration on the front page of the sport section of a New Zealand newspaper on Saturday that had depicted him as a clown replete with the Wallabies crest on his smock.

“I don’t think they really want my comment anyway,” he told reporters in Auckland when asked what he thought of New Zealand’s record achievement. “They dressed us up as clowns today, so they wouldn’t really want our comment. I don’t think they respect our comment anyway so we won’t make one.” – Reuters