{"id":668041,"date":"2026-05-13T10:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/668041\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:56:11","slug":"richie-mounga-latest-israel-dagg-slams-ridiculous-nz-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/668041\/","title":{"rendered":"Richie Mo’unga latest: Israel Dagg slams ‘ridiculous’ NZ Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbarians<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel Dagg and prominent pundit Scotty Stevenson have both branded New Zealand Rugby\u2019s position on Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s eligibility as \u201cridiculous\u201d.<\/p>\n

The fly-half, who has earned over 50 caps for New Zealand, will return to the country ahead of the Nations Championship after signing a new deal with the governing body.<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga has been in Japan since the previous Rugby World Cup, but will head home after three seasons playing in Asia.<\/p>\n

However, in accordance with NZ Rugby\u2019s overseas policy, the playmaker will not be allowed to feature for the All Blacks until he has played in the domestic NPC competition.<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie argues his case<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie has looked to change that in the hope of having him available for the Springboks series, but the governing body have remained firm.<\/p>\n

They have come under fire for that stance with Stevenson among those to criticise NZR for refusing to let Rennie select Mo\u2019unga.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, you\u2019ve got New Zealand Rugby standing up and saying how desperate they are to win games or rugby, to represent the best players available. On the other hand, they are putting up every hurdle they possibly can,\u201d he said on Sport Nations\u2019 Scotty and Izzy show.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the irony here. Because Ardie Savea goes on a \u2018legitimate\u2019 sabbatical to Japan, he gets to come back in and be eligible straight away. Richie Mo\u2019unga took a deal to go to Japan where he\u2019s shining, he\u2019s played 52 Test matches, he was in the All Blacks for six year and yet he has got to jump across every hurdle possible if he is to be considered to play for the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he misses the July series, that\u2019s three Tests. If he misses the South African series, that\u2019s four Tests. If he misses the Australian series because he\u2019s not up to speed with what the All Blacks have done all year, that\u2019s nine Tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cNine Tests in the penultimate year before a World Cup, then you bring him into the All Blacks. It is the most ridiculous stance I could possibly imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy is not a fly-by-nighter, he was a fundamental part of that team over a six-year period, you can make concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie reveals discarded Richie Mo\u2019unga plan and gives his verdict on All Blacks\u2019 fly-half stocks<\/a><\/p>\n

As things stand, there is only one way Mo\u2019unga<\/a> can be selected earlier and that is as injury cover.<\/p>\n

Dagg, who agreed with his co-host, ultimately reckons that Rennie<\/a> and NZ Rugby will come to an agreement which will allow the fly-half to represent the All Blacks<\/a> earlier.<\/p>\n

Dagg\u2019s rant<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he plays, I can\u2019t understand why he wouldn\u2019t. He\u2019s in the country, he\u2019s made his decision to come home, he\u2019s going to be playing here on our shores. There\u2019s no way in hell I cannot see him playing, they will find some way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave Rennie\u2019s a clever man and he\u2019s a smart man, and he will find a little loophole, that\u2019s what we\u2019re great at in this country \u2013 we find a loophole in the rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichie\u2019s done his time, it\u2019s just another example of getting in their own way, trying to tick all the boxes and trying to make people happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in the country, he\u2019s signed, he\u2019s going to play; how ridiculous is that. To know that you\u2019ve got a guy like Richie Mo\u2019unga, who has played here before, has won multiple titles, has won a Super Rugby Player of the Year, loves this country, loves his people, and you\u2019re going to stop him from playing for the All Blacks just because he\u2019s been away in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I just know he\u2019s going to play, that\u2019s what my heart is saying. There\u2019s no way in hell that they\u2019re not going to play this guy, if he is up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Mo\u2019unga is made available, it is not a guarantee that he will be selected given the presence of Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett and Ruben Love, but Dagg cannot fathom the logic of denying the 31-year-old that chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got to earn that opportunity, he\u2019s got to earn that position because there\u2019s a young guy \u2013 Ruben Love \u2013 that\u2019s absolutely flying, you\u2019ve got a couple of other experienced players \u2013 Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett \u2013 that will want to fight for that 10 position to and so they should,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never going to walk into this jersey but if he is fit, healthy and he is pushing his way into the starting position and starting opportunity for the All Blacks, you give him that opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s there and available, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks: Dave Rennie\u2019s verdict on Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku\u2019s Test chances in new role and makes blunt revelation on Brodie Retallick\u2019s possible return<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel Dagg and prominent pundit Scotty Stevenson have both branded New Zealand Rugby\u2019s position on Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s eligibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,1736,44,191966,760,85],"class_list":["post-668041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-richie-mo","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}