Gungahlin Eagles Tamati Ioane signs with Melbourne Rebels as Joey Caputo flies out to join Benetton Treviso

Eagles No. 8 Tamati Ioane is bound for Super Rugby after signing a two-year deal with the Melbourne Rebels, while emerging flyhalf Joey Caputo flies to Italy on Friday to link up with Benetton Treviso.

Ioane will see out the season with the Eagles in the John I Dent Cup before moving to Melbourne, having impressed against the Rebels when he turned out for the ACT Brumbies Runners earlier this year.

So what can the Rebels expect when he arrives on their doorstep?

"He's a real hybrid of Toutai Kefu, Ita Vaea, Viliami Ofahengaue. He's all of those things rolled up into one," Eagles coach Marco Caputo said.

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Ioane arrived in Canberra two years ago via Ipswich in rugby league's Queensland Cup. Caputo reckons he tipped the scales at 135 kilograms.

"But he had some x-factor for a big man. He has worked very hard to get where he is," Caputo said.

"He got an opportunity to show what he could do with the Brumbies after a couple of really strong club seasons here where he has just dominated, he got his body under control and played those Runners game and was the best player on the field.

"Off the back of those performances, Melbourne were quick to offer him a professional contract for a couple of years.

"To be honest with you, I'm surprised a lot more wasn't done where to keep him.

"Australian rugby has gone down this path where players are pretty much pigeon holed, it's more about players are getting signed on what they can do in the gym, what sort of benchmarks they can hit with their running, and footballing ability seems to be coming second in all of those recruitment areas.

"Ten, 15 years ago, it was the other way around. It was always football ability first, and all of the other stuff was complimentary to that. It's been tipped on its head there.

"He's out of the box, he's got x-factor and we're all really chuffed for him."

While Ioane will lead the charge for Gungahlin as they look to better last season's heartbreaking grand final defeat, Caputo will be slogging it out in the European summer for pre-season.

Caputo holds an Italian passport and is thus eligible for Gli Azzurri national teams. He was on Italian rugby's radar to join their under 20s side last year before the coronavirus pandemic brought an end to those plans.

"Kieran Crowley, who is the Benetton head coach, is now the Italian coach. The appeal of a kid who has been through the Brumbies academy pathway, a 20-year-old flyhalf who is eligible for national teams, they were really interested in that," Marco Caputo said.

"He gets a chance, so he is really keen. He has got a couple of Italian internationals, but he'll get his chance when the Six Nations is on and the Tests roll around, that's when he'll get his chance. To play in the Pro14 in Europe is a pretty big deal so he's champing at the bit.

"We had Corey Toole up there in Townsville playing in the Aussie sevens. We're really happy those guys have been able to use the John I Dent Cup and progress their aspirations into that next level."

The Eagles sit fourth on the John I Dent Cup table leading into a clash with Tuggeranong at Viking Park on Saturday.

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