A move to Dublin awaits Rieko Ioane at the end of November as he follows long-time centre partner Jordie Barrett for a short-term sabbatical at Leinster that he may hope proves restorative. The All Blacks wing-cum-centre-cum-wing-again has not yet celebrated his 29th birthday but finds himself currently out of the New Zealand side; an outside-back reshuffle may loom with Caleb Clarke out of the encounter with England but Scott Robertson’s recent selections suggest that Leicester Fainga’anku, Quinn Tupaea and Billy Proctor have supplanted Ioane in the chase for the No 13 shirt.
Such is life in a nation perhaps more richly resourced in elite rugby athletes than any other. Ioane may yet come again but has this year been pushed to the periphery, starting five matches on the wing, and then out of the matchday squad entirely.
