Richie Mo’unga makes honest ‘trust has to be earnt’ admission as star fly-half addresses All Blacks recall
All Blacks fly-half Richie Mo'unga and head coach Dave Rennie.
Richie Mo’unga admits that he would be “happy” even if he doesn’t get the chance to play for the All Blacks on their South African tour after receiving a recall.
The fly-half returns to the New Zealand squad for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup after spending the past three seasons in Japan.
Mo’unga replaces Billy Proctor as injury cover with the centre out of the Test series having suffered a fractured shoulder in the victory over the Stormers.
The 32-year-old will compete with Ruben Love, Beauden Barrett, Josh Jacomb and potentially Damian McKenzie for the number 10 jersey, although the Canterbury playmaker doesn’t quite know what plans Dave Rennie has for him just yet.
Mo’unga ‘ready to play a role’
“We’ll see, and to be honest, I’m going over ready to play a role, whatever that role is, that might be not even playing footy and I’m happy with that. Happy to be going over, but there’s a lot of work to be done, a lot of trust to be earnt,” he told Stuff.
Mo’unga is set to arrive on Friday which means that it is most likely too late for him to feature in Saturday’s Bulls clash, making his task much harder if he is to break into the 23 for the first Test.
The form of Love, who started all three Nations Championship Tests, will also make it difficult for the Crusaders great but, for the time being, he is just happy to be involved.
“It feels great to get the call from Rens and be given the nod to head over, it’s pretty special. I always feel blessed when you get asked to be part of a special group,” the playmaker added.
“[I got the call] this morning. Obviously, they’ve been battling with a few injuries and they just needed someone over, so I’m happy to put my hand up and grateful to be thought of as the person to head over.”
Mo’unga was ineligible to feature for the All Blacks when the initial squad was named but, by playing for Canterbury in the NPC, that has changed matters.
He has played two matches for the team since returning to New Zealand and was scheduled to start this weekend, but the pivot is now heading to South Africa.
“To be honest, I hadn’t put too much thought into it. I’ve had a lot going on, we played for the [Ranfurly] Shield on Sunday and we had a tough game this weekend for our shield defence,” he said.
“I knew there was always conversations and would have been close but I just had my head down and was getting into some work, so I knew if the call would come I would be ready, which I am. I’m grateful to be heading over.”
McKenzie injury and fly-half competition
Rennie has now added even more competition to the playmaking spots but he does have an injury concern over McKenzie, which is perhaps the reason why he opted for another fly-half.
If the Chiefs man is sidelined, that bolsters Mo’unga’s chances of featuring against the Springboks, especially with Barrett out of form and Jacomb yet to make his Test debut.
The All Blacks boss played down the severity of McKenzie’s issue after the Sharks game but did admit that he was “a little ginger” following the knock.
“He was running around, we had it strapped, but it was a little bit ginger. We decided to play it safe. He’s not too bad. We’d expect him to be fine for the first Test,” Rennie said.
