Exclusive: Rieko on Sexton comments - "Time to move on"

All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane is keen to move on from a feud with retired Ireland first-five Johnny Sexton as he prepares for another meeting with the world’s number one side.

In his autobiography Obsessed released in September, former Irish number 10 Sexton revealed his version of events at the end of last year’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final when Ireland were knocked out by New Zealand.

“And as I stand there, hands on hips, staring in disbelief at [referee Wayne] Barnes, Rieko Ioane still comes up to me and tells me, ‘Get back ten metres.’ Huh? ‘Penalty,’ he says. ‘Back ten.’ And then, after Barnes blows the final whistle, he says, ‘Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c**t.’

“So much for the All Blacks’ famous ‘no dickheads’ policy. So much for their humility. I walk after Ioane and call him a fake-humble f***er. It doesn’t look great, me having a go at one of them just after we’ve lost. But I can’t be expected to ignore that.”

Ioane poured fuel on the fire of the spat by posting to Instagram a photo of himself and Sexton as the Irishman is delivering a verbal spray, accompanied with the song Zombie by Irish band The Cranberries.

The chorus of the song is playing with the words “In your head” – seemingly a jab at Sexton’s displeasure with the exchange. The song was also Ireland’s unofficial anthem at last year’s World Cup, and was sung by fans notably after their pool stage victory over eventual champions South Africa.

In an exclusive interview with Newstalk ZBs Elliott Smith in Dublin, Ioane says as far as he’s concerned that chapter is closed ahead of the test tomorrow morning.

“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.”.

“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,” the All Blacks veteran added.

Ireland and the All Blacks have split their last 10 meetings while the world number one side have won 19 straight at home – their last home defeat coming against France in the 2021 Six Nations.

The last time the two sides clashed in Paris, the All Blacks ended Ireland’s 17-game winning streak with a 28-24 win.

Ioane said that there are aspects the side can take out of the quarter-final victory but it’s ultimately in the past.

“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.

Speaking about Ireland, who could lose their number one ranking this weekend, Ioane said the sides have similar style of play.

“They have skilled backs that love to play from anywhere. 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.”

In the pre-match captain’s run, All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett said the squad have talked about how big the occasion will be.

“That was one of the great matches of the World Cup last year. And for us, I think we know what Ireland are going to turn up with and that’s a willingness to play and they’ll be looking to put us under pressure and I guess vice versa.

“We certainly know it’s going to be an 80-minute effort. We’ve seen some great matches in the past, often going past the 80 minutes.”

“We’ve certainly touched on, how big the occasion is playing Ireland at Aviva,” he added.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission