Akira Ioane (born 16 June 1995) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who currently plays as a flanker or number 8 for in the Japan Rugby League One competition. He previously played for in New Zealand's

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

and the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. Internationally, he has played for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, the New Zealand sevens team, 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 is ...

and

All Blacks XV The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

Early life and family

Born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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

squad member

Rieko Ioane Rieko Edward Ioane (; born 18 March 1997) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Centre (rugby union), centre or Wing (rugby union), wing for the Blues (Super Rugby), Blues in Super Rugby and Auckland Rugby Union, Auckland in the Bu ...

. His father Eddie Ioane 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 Six Nations Championship, Five Na ...

and his mother Sandra Wihongi is a former Black Fern. 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 Te Whānau-ā-Apanui is a Māori iwi (tribe) located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand's North Island. In 2006, the iwi registered 11,808 members, representing 13 hapū. History Early history During the 17th ce ...

and

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. He was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

Senior career

Ioane earned a

contract for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

after a stunning performance at the 2014 Wellington Sevens. He replaced Peter Saili in the squad, who left for a contract in France. On 7 June 2017, with 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 ...

unavailable due to injury, Ioane started in the Blues' historic 22–16 victory over the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. Ioane was a regular starter for the Blues from 2017 and played his 100th game for the franchise on 13 May 2023 against the . He went on to play 119 games for the club, finishing his last season with the Blues as a Super Rugby Pacific champion. He scored the opening try for the Blues in their 41–10 victory over the in the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific final. Following that final, Japanese club Hanazono Kintetsu Liners announced that Ioane would join the team ahead of the 2024–2025 Japan Rugby League One season.

International career

Ioane joined the New Zealand sevens team in 2014 and made his debut at the 2014 Wellington Sevens. He was a member of the New Zealand sevens squad that won the silver medal at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and finished fifth at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. On 11 July 2015, Ioane made his debut for the

against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in Suva. Almost two years later, on 17 June 2017, he started for the Māori All Blacks against the touring

during a 10–32 loss at

Rotorua International Stadium Rotorua International Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on Devon Street West in the Westbrook suburb of Rotorua, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for rugby union and rugby league matches, being one of three home stadiums for th ...

. While on tour with the Māori All Blacks in 2017, Ioane was called up for the

as injury cover for Blues team-mate

. Ioane made his international debut for New Zealand on 14 November 2017, replacing the in-form flanker Liam Squire off the bench in the 53rd minute of a 28–23 victory over a French XV. Following the shortened 2020 Super Rugby and

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

season, as well as his showing in the 2020 North vs South match, Ioane wasfor the first time named in the

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 ...

. After missing out on a spot in the All Blacks squad in 2023, Ioane was named in the

squad for their tour to Japan.

References

External links

Akira Ioane All Blacks profile

NZ Rugby History profile

Blues profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ioane, Akira 1995 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Rugby union players from Auckland Ngāpuhi people Te Whānau-ā-Apanui people People educated at Auckland Grammar School New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers New Zealand male rugby sevens players New Zealand international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Olympic rugby sevens players for New Zealand Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics New Zealand international rugby union players Māori All Blacks players Blues (Super Rugby) players Auckland rugby union players Hanazono Kintetsu Liners players New Zealand expatriates in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan