Bernard Jackman believes that Rieko Ioane must improve or else he faces the prospect of not being part of the Leinster team for their big knockout matches.
The 88-times capped All Black was their big-name addition for this season, effectively replacing Test team-mate Jordie Barrett, who took his six-month sabbatical in Dublin during the 2024/25 campaign.
While Barrett made a significant impact in his short stint in Ireland, Ioane hasn’t been as effective and was part of a side that went down 38-17 to a second-string Glasgow Warriors at the weekend.
Head coach Leo Cullen has defended Ioane’s form, but Jackman admits that the 29-year-old has not been near the same level as his All Black predecessor.
Ioane has only been ‘fine’
“Rieko is an interesting one. I heard Leo speak a couple of weeks ago and he was saying: ‘The things we’re seeing in training and wait until the harder grounds’,” the ex-Ireland hooker said on the RTE Rugby podcast.
“The reality is in the modern game the pitches aren’t that bad at professional level in the winter.
“In fairness, it was smart, he was saying all the good things, ‘wait until you see Rieko on hard grounds’. The ground is going to get a little bit harder but not too much, although the conditions will be a little bit better.
“He’s done absolutely fine. If he wasn’t Rieko Ioane, you wouldn’t have any worries, but when you consider how precious those foreign player spots are for Leinster.
“Players who have them generally have to be massive when the internationals are away because they’re the ones that players look to, and you’ve got a lot of youngsters around you.”
Jackman does not believe that Ioane has been lazy or come to Leinster with an arrogant attitude, but that the form which made him one of the best players in the world has disappeared.
“It’s not his endeavour, his endeavour is fine. It’s not happening for him really to the level his ‘YouTube highlights’ or his career would say,” he said.
“The more worrying thing for Leinster is it’s not just he’s come to Leinster and not really fired, it’s that his form for the previous six months had dipped.
“It will be key for Leinster that either he gets in form or he won’t start, there are no other options there – he may not be a starter for Leinster in the knockout stages.”
Jackman was joined on the show by former Leicester Tigers and Munster star Johne Murphy, who agreed with his fellow pundit.
“I think you bring in a player for their attributes and then you fit their attributes into your system. I don’t necessarily think when it came out it was a Jordie Barrett signing,” Murphy said.
“When you look at Barrett, you go ‘yeah, I think he will really add to this because of his organisation, his ability to play 10, 12, 15 and what he will give the younger lads around him.’
“When Ioane comes in, it’s like, where are you going to play him? Is he going to be on the wing?
“I think he’s been fine, but you look at the moments someone like Jordie Barrett had last year; if he had started against Northampton, I think it would have been a different outcome.
“I don’t know whether this season you’re going, ‘oh well, if Ioane plays they win’, or he’s going to make that much of a difference to what they have already.
“In the overall context, I’m not sure it was the greatest signing in terms of what they needed from that player spot.
“For the [Joshua] Kenny try [against Glasgow], when he gets the intercept, he doesn’t really put his foot to the floor there, he doesn’t look like the most explosive person in the world there.
“I would be leaning more towards the disappointing signing rather than the other way.”
Importance of foreign players to Leinster’s success
Jackman reiterated an earlier point that Ioane has not been poor but that he needs to be better if Leinster are going to win big competitions.
In the Dublin outfit’s four Champions Cup wins, their foreign stars all played key roles in those title triumphs.
Rocky Elsom in 2009, Richardt Strauss – before he became Irish-qualified – in 2011, Brad Thorn in 2012 and Scott Fardy in 2018 were key components of those successes, while the great Isa Nacewa was present for all of them.
With RG Snyman potentially picking up a nasty injury, according to Jackman, that further increases the strain on the All Black.
“He’s a seven out of 10 most weeks, we’re being harsh here, and his body of work is exceptional – he was one of the best players in the world,” he said.
“Leinster haven’t got over the line in Europe for a while. Even going back to that Bulls game at Croke Park for the URC final, Jordie Barrett had a phenomenal game that day.
“Most Leinster teams have needed foreign players to be very good in big games. Also, hopefully it’s not true, but there’s certainly a rumour around Dublin this week that RG’s injury is serious enough.
“He is box office and he has X-factor, and gives them something different to James Ryan and Joe McCarthy, even if it’s off the bench.
“If he is out, it puts even more pressure on Rieko to find a bit more form and key moments as they go into knockout rugby.”