Akira Ioane (born 16 June 1995) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. Ioane plays blindside flanker and number 8 for the

Auckland rugby union team Auckland are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand. The union was originally established in 1883, with the National Provincial Championship established in 1976. They now play in the reformed National Prov ...

in the Mitre 10 Cup, for the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition and was selected for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

in 2017, having previously represented New Zealand internationally in Sevens and the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

Early life and family

Born in Auckland on 16 June 1995, Ioane is the older brother of current

squad member Rieko Ioane. His father

Eddie Ioane Eddie Ioane (born June 2, 1966) is a Samoan rugby union player. He played as lock. Career His first match for Samoa was against Tonga, at Apia, on June 17, 1990. He was also part of the 1991 Rugby World Cup roster. He retired after the World Cup ...

played for at the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

and his mother Sandra Wihongi is a former Black Fern. They moved to Japan shortly after Akira's birth, for four years, while Eddie played rugby for

Ricoh is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational imaging and electronics company (law), company. It was founded by the now-defunct commercial division of the Riken, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) known as the ''Riken ...

. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and Samoan descent, Ioane affiliates to the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 16 ...

iwi. He was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

Rugby career

International Rugby

Ioane joined the New Zealand sevens team in 2014 and made his debut at the

2014 Wellington Sevens The 2014 Wellington Sevens was the 15th edition of the tournament as part of the 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series. It was hosted in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Westpac Stadium. Format The teams were divided into pools of four teams, who play ...

. He was a member of the

All Blacks Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been of ...

squad at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. Ioane played for the New Zealand Sevens Squad in the 2015 Wellington Sevens. He was awarded as Player of the Finals in New Zealand vs South Africa. Ioane also played for the New Zealand Sevens Squad for Sydney Sevens in 2016 in February. In the finals he was awarded as Player of the Finals whilst his Brother Reiko Ioane got the Player of Tournament against Australia in the Sevens Tournament. On 17 June 2017, Ioane started for the Māori All Blacks against the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

during a 10–32 loss at the Rotorua International Stadium. Ioane played the full 80 minutes against the Lions. While on tour with the Māori All Blacks in 2017, Ioane was called up for the All Blacks as injury cover for Blues team-mate

Jerome Kaino Jerome Kaino (born 6 April 1983) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year. In 2011, he was named the New Zealand Rugby player of the year, finishing ahead of Richie McCaw ...

. Ioane made his international debut for New Zealand on 14 November 2017, replacing the in-form Highlanders flanker

Liam Squire Liam Ivan John Squire (born 20 March 1991) is a former New Zealand rugby union player from Tokomaru, New Zealand. He played in the Number 8 and Blindside flanker position for Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup. Squire joined the NTT DoCoMo Red Hurri ...

off the bench in the 53rd minute of a 28–23 victory over a French XV. Following the shortened

season and

Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby Aotearoa currently named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes is a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was susp ...

, as well as his showing in the 2020 North vs South match, Ioane was selected in Ian Foster's first

squad, for the

2020 Rugby Championship The 2020 Tri Nations Series was the seventeenth edition of the annual southern hemisphere competition, involving Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. On 16 October 2020, 2019 Rugby Championship winners and 2019 Rugby World Cup champions South A ...

Super Rugby

He earned a

contract for 2015 after a stunning performance at the

. He replaced Peter Saili who left for a contract in France. On the 2/5/15 whilst playing the Western Force he made 12 carries for 118 meters including a try from 55m out. On 7 June 2017, with injury to Jerome Kaino, Ioane started in the Blues' historic 22–16 victory over the British and Irish Lions. Ioane performed very well but was overshadowed by the departing number 8

Steven Luatua Steve Luatua (born 29 April 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player. His regular playing position is either as a lock or a loose forward. He plays for the Bristol Bears in the English Premiership. Luatua was a member of the New Zealand und ...

. Ioane has been a regular starter for the Blues since 2017 and is one of the leading try-scorers of the 2018 season. Ioane has scored six tries in the

2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...

and has scored the most tries of any forward. Ioane was dropped from the Blues opening matches of the Super rugby 2020 season.

References

External links

All Blacks Profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ioane, Akira 1995 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Māori rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Blues (Super Rugby) players Auckland rugby union players New Zealand international rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers People educated at Auckland Grammar School Rugby union players from Auckland Māori All Blacks players Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players of New Zealand Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of New Zealand Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games New Zealand male rugby sevens players Ngāpuhi people Te Whānau-ā-Apanui people Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Living people New Zealand international rugby union players