Richie Mo’unga is on a plane to Johannesburg. New Zealand Rugby confirmed on Thursday that the Canterbury first-five will fly out to join the All Blacks on their eight-match tour of South Africa, ending a stand-off over his eligibility that has run for most of the winter and putting the 32 year old back in the frame for a black jersey he last wore in October 2023.
RNZ reported that Mo’unga leaves on Thursday to link up with the squad ahead of Saturday’s match against the Bulls in Pretoria. He was not part of the 44-man group named on 27 July, because under New Zealand Rugby’s selection criteria he was not allowed to be.
The immediate reason for the call is an injury. Hurricanes midfielder Billy Proctor fractured his shoulder blade in the tour opener, a 38-21 win over the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium on 7 August, and has been sent home. An All Blacks statement said scans showed the fracture would not require surgery but would take roughly 10 to 12 weeks to heal, ruling him out of the rest of the tour. Proctor was the second player to leave early, after Crusaders hooker George Bell went home with a calf injury and was replaced by Bradley Slater.
A second injury scare appears to have tipped the decision. Damian McKenzie twisted his left ankle in the opening minutes of the match against the Sharks in Durban on 11 August, played on and scored, then was taken off shortly before halftime in a game the All Blacks won 54-0. Coach Dave Rennie played the injury down afterwards, telling reporters that McKenzie “just twisted his ankle when he came down from that high ball in the first minute. He was running around, we had it strapped, but it was just a little bit ginger. So, we decided just to play it safe. He’s not too bad. We’d expect him to be fine for the first Test.”
Rennie also made clear the replacement call had been deliberately delayed. “We decided we wouldn’t make a decision on Billy’s replacement until after tonight’s game,” he said. “Mainly to see what came through here and if we got a couple of other injuries that might decide what direction we go in.” Asked directly whether Mo’unga could be the man, Rennie smiled and said only, “Yeah, well, we’ll work through that process.”
The process he was referring to has been the story of Mo’unga’s year. New Zealand Rugby requires players returning from overseas contracts to complete a domestic campaign before they can be selected, and Mo’unga went to Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo in 2024 on a straight club deal rather than a sanctioned sabbatical. Players such as Ardie Savea and Anton Lienert-Brown built sabbatical clauses into their New Zealand contracts and walked straight back into selection. Mo’unga did not have that protection, and NZR held the line through months of public pressure, confirming he could not be picked for the South African tour until he had played in the NPC.
He has now done that, and made it count. Mo’unga scored the match-winning try for Canterbury against Auckland in the opening round, then steered the side to a 19-15 win over Otago last weekend to take the Ranfurly Shield, Canterbury’s record 18th time lifting the log o’ wood. Two matches was all the rule technically demanded, and two matches is what he has played.
Not everyone thinks it is the right use of a replacement slot. Todd Blackadder, who coached Mo’unga at Toshiba, questioned the logic on Newstalk ZB, pointing out that the tour party already carries Beauden Barrett, McKenzie, Ruben Love and debutant Josh Jacomb. “He’s a predominant No.10, and they’ve already got four over there,” Blackadder said. “I just think about it pragmatically, do they really need another No.10?” He argued the squad’s actual hole is in midfield, where Proctor played, and that “they’re probably going to have to call in a midfielder” regardless. Blackadder was quick to add that Mo’unga is “a world-class No.10” and that the debate was “background white noise” as far as the player was concerned.
Mo’unga brings 56 Tests and 464 points to a squad that has three new caps in it. His last appearance in black was the 2023 World Cup final at the Stade de France, when the All Blacks lost 12-11 to South Africa with 14 men. If he is picked over the next month, it will almost certainly be against the same opponent, which gives the whole thing a symmetry that is hard to ignore.
The Bulls match in Pretoria on Saturday is the last hit-out before the Tests begin. The first of four meetings with the Springboks is at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 22 August, followed by a midweek game against the Lions, then Tests in Cape Town on 29 August, at FNB Stadium on 5 September and finally in Baltimore on 12 September. Rennie described the tour when he named the squad as one that “will challenge us and demand the very best of us”.
Whether Mo’unga plays a Test on this tour is still an open question. Getting on the plane was the part everybody assumed would not happen.
What do you make of the call-up. Does Mo’unga walk straight back into the number 10 jersey, or has the All Blacks side moved on without him. Leave a comment below and let us know.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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