Rieko Ioane and Johnny Sexton had a war of words after the World Cup quarter-final.
Rieko Ioane says he is not bringing any baggage from last year’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final spat with Johnny Sexton into tonight’s rematch with Ireland.
Sexton’s account of Ioane’s post-match taunts have dominated the build up to the Aviva Stadium clash and the centre is likely to be reminded by the home crowd of his decision to celebrate a famous win by telling the Ireland legend to ‘enjoy your retirement, you c***’.
When the former fly-half’s book revealed details of the exchange, Ioane responded with a social media post soundtracked by the ‘In your head’ chorus of ‘Zombie’ that fanned the flames.
Sexton is now part of the Irish set-up as a mentor, while Ioane will again wear the No 13 shirt, and he’s not letting the feud effect his preparation.
“There’s stuff that happens on the field that is all part of the game. I didn’t think too much of it [Sexton’s comments] and that’s where I am at the moment,” he told Kiwi’s radio station Newstalk ZB.
“It was such as proud moment for the nation and for us as a team.
“You can’t look back too far and you have to focus on what’s ahead. The only thing we can take from that was how they played and how we played.
“We have to be able to remove the emotion and focus solely on the performance this Friday.
“History and past results don’t matter when it comes this Friday.
“It’s how best we can build on our last two wins over Japan and England. Shape our game to suit Ireland…fixing areas like discipline last week was huge for us and we need to be a lot better.”
Tonight’s match is being billed as the game of the Autumn Nations Series, with the world number 1 and 3 going head to head and Ireland looking for their sixth win in 10 against the All Blacks.
Ioane’s focus is on the threats within the Irish team, rather than a war of words with a retired player.
“They have skilled backs that love to play from anywhere,” he said.
“Their forwards are just as skilled. Their strength is the ability to hold on to the ball for long phases.
“Similar to us they love the attacking side and holding long phases which is where they usually break teams down. Our defence and again our discipline is going to be huge.”
“When you look at the layout of our Northern tour, we’ve got tough matches back-to-back-to-back. Definitely exciting. These are the moments as All Blacks we love. Looking forward to it.”
