New Zealand's Mo’unga returns to stake World Cup claims
Richie Mo'unga last played for New Zealand in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final. Pic: ©INPHO/Photosport/Andrew Cornaga
New Zealand flyhalf Richie Mo'unga will don an All Blacks jersey on Tuesday for the first time since the last World Cup final as he makes a bid for a place in the squad for next year’s global tournament.
Mo'unga will start against the Lions at Ellis Park as New Zealand play the last game against provincial opposition on their eight-match tour of South Africa.
The 32-year-old was called up as an injury replacement in an effort by new coach Dave Rennie to integrate him into the squad one year out from the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
"One reason for coming back was obviously to win a World Cup, but to not have any regrets of ‘geez, I wish I had given it another crack or maybe there was a bit more to give," Mo’unga told reporters on Monday.
"I’ve just come back really grateful. I knew I missed it, but coming back in, you realise this is a really special circle to be in. I’m just really savouring every moment and just not going to take these things for granted," he added.
The All Blacks have Ruben Love as first-choice flyhalf and unless there is an injury or major loss of form, there is little chance Mo'unga will play in the remaining three tests.
Mo’unga was unavailable for selection after three seasons with Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan because the All Blacks have rules on only picking home-based players, but he returned to New Zealand in June and was included in an All Blacks training camp.
His first opportunity to play for Canterbury came after the tour party had departed for South Africa, but injury to Billy Proctor gave Rennie the chance to call up the skilful Mo’unga as a replacement.
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus wants his team to turn the hurt of their weekend defeat by New Zealand into fuel to get themselves back into contention in the four-test series.
The Springboks lost their top world ranking when New Zealand won the opening test 33-16 at Ellis Park on Saturday, outscoring their hosts five tries to one as they saw off South Africa’s efforts to muscle them into submission.
The world champions had been favourites before the start of the first test of the Kiwis’ eight-match tour.
"One could see the hurt on everyone’s faces after Saturday’s match, and we know what we have to do to bounce back strongly this week," Erasmus said as he announced the line-up for the second test in Cape Town on Saturday.
"There were a handful of positives and negatives last week, but the main thing that let us down was that we created so many chances, but mistakes at crucial times cost us," Erasmus told reporters on Monday.
"We are angry with each other. The coaches did and said stupid things. The players did stupid things on the pitch," added Erasmus.
"Me personally, I made wrong calls on some of the tactics we wanted to try and do inside their 22. It didn’t work and that’s on me."
Erasmus went back to naming his side early, but kept the All Blacks guessing by putting flanker Siya Kolisi back in the side if the inspirational captain proves his fitness. If not, Paul de Villiers will stay in the starting line-up. The experienced halfback pairing of Handre Pollard and Cobus Reinach replace Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who was guilty of key handling errors, and the injured Grant Williams.
"Paul played well on Saturday, and there’s no reason why we should keep him out, but Siya is our captain," the coach said.
"Siya has got some strengths, one of them being the attacking breakdown, he’s really good at sorting that out for us, which was the area we struggled with.
"There were lots of times that we played badly, not because they did anything illegal, but we couldn’t get the ball away out of the breakdown when we were in really good attacking positions. Siya’s really good at that," Erasmus added.
Damian Willemse; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker; Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach; Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain) or Paul de Villiers; Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth; Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche
Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Andre Esterhuizen, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Berg, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
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