{"id":839597,"date":"2026-08-02T10:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T10:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839597\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T10:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T10:20:14","slug":"richie-moungas-verdict-on-possible-all-blacks-return-for-rugbys-greatest-rivalry-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839597\/","title":{"rendered":"Richie Mo’unga’s verdict on possible All Blacks return for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richie Mo\u2019unga has remained tight-lipped regarding the possibility of making a return to international rugby with the All Blacks during their current tour of South Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga made a triumphant return to New Zealand rugby when he came off the replacements bench and scored the match-winning try for Canterbury in a thrilling National Provincial Championship (NPC) clash with Auckland in Christchurch on Saturday.<\/p>\n

That means the 32-year-old fly-half has become eligible for All Blacks<\/a> selection on Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The men in black will take on all four of South Africa\u2019s URC sides ahead of three clashes with the Springboks in Johannesburg (twice) and Cape Town, before Baltimore hosts the fourth and final Test on September 12.<\/p>\n

New Zealand kick off their six-week tour against the Stormers at the DHL Stadium on August 7.<\/p>\n

Initially barred from All Blacks selection<\/p>\n

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie<\/a> was initially barred from selecting Mo\u2019unga<\/a> from his 44-man squad for the South African tour as he was plying his trade with Japan Rugby League One outfit Toshiba Brave Lupus since representing New Zealand at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Japan.<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as one of the game\u2019s leading playmakers, Mo\u2019unga played a leading role for the Crusaders when they won seven consecutive Super Rugby titles between 2017 and 2023.<\/p>\n

After finishing his three-year stint with Toshiba Brave Lupus last month, Mo\u2019unga spent some time on the sidelines nursing a calf injury but made a recovery and came off the bench in the 52nd minute against Auckland to make his first appearance in the NPC since 2020.<\/p>\n

He was soon in the thick of the action and in the 78th minute he jinked past three defenders before crossing the whitewash and added the extras off the kicking tee to hand Canterbury a 38-31 victory in their tournament opener.<\/p>\n

After the match, Mo\u2019unga was questioned about the possibility of joining the All Blacks on their South African tour but he was coy with his response.<\/p>\n

Returning All Black Richie Mo\u2019unga scores winner in provincial return despite \u2018shaky\u2019 start<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Whatever happens, happens\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not too sure \u2013 you know just as much as me. [I will] \u2018be where my feet are\u2019 and whatever happens, happens,\u201d he told The Press.<\/p>\n

Last week, when announcing his squad for Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour, Rennie revealed that Mo\u2019unga could be added to his squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a chance,\u201d he responded when asked if Mo\u2019unga could still feature on the tour. \u201cHe will play for Canterbury this weekend, and then once he\u2019s done that, if we had an injury at 10, then he\u2019s an option to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruben Love was the All Blacks\u2019 first choice fly-half during their Nations Championship victories over France, Italy and Ireland in New Zealand last month.<\/p>\n

Love, Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett and Josh Jacomb were the four number 10s selected in Rennie\u2019s squad for the All Blacks\u2019 South African tour.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Last year, when it was revealed that Mo\u2019unga had a new deal with New Zealand Rugby, he was asked how he feels about having to represent Canterbury in the NPC before becoming eligible for the All Blacks\u2019 tour to South Africa and he replied: \u201cAny time you get the opportunity to represent your province is an honour,\u201d he says. \u201cI grew up watching and playing for Canterbury and the Crusaders in some great teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited to play for Canterbury. Is it what I want to do or why I am coming back to New Zealand? No, it\u2019s not. That South African tour is actually something I\u2019d love to be part of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the rules that have been put in place and I guess I have to come to grips with that is what it is. But yeah, the South African tour would be something special to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks: Codie Taylor reveals what he expects from South Africa\u2019s URC teams and gives blunt verdict on their Super Rugby absence<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga has remained tight-lipped regarding the possibility of making a return to international rugby with the All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839598,"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-839597","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\/839597","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=839597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}