{"id":153159,"date":"2025-11-25T16:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/153159\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T16:28:08","slug":"richie-mounga-explains-short-term-nature-of-new-nzr-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/153159\/","title":{"rendered":"Richie Mo’unga explains short-term nature of new NZR deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Richie Mo\u2019unga will be back in red and black for 2026, for Canterbury<\/a> in the NPC, and the Crusaders<\/a> in 2027 after signing an 18-month contract with New Zealand<\/a> rugby.<\/p>\n

But what the contract and announcement doesn\u2019t say, is that Mo\u2019unga was in discussions regarding which Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> team he would be signing for, and for how long.<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga made 109 appearances for the Crusaders over a seven year period, making his debut for the franchise in 2016, but the first-five tells Patrick McKendry in an interview for\u00a01News\u00a0that in another world, playing for another franchise might have worked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn another world or another life, Moana Pasifika<\/a> would have been great. It would have been a cool story. But going home was to try to give myself chance to play at a World Cup and playing for the Crusaders does that for me,\u201d Mo\u2019unga said in a 1News interview before the Ireland<\/a> Test in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point in my career, I don\u2019t think I could play for any other team, unless I really had to,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCanterbury is home and I grew up loving the team. Obviously, I played over 100 games for the Crusaders. I still watch all the Crusaders games when I\u2019m in Japan<\/a> and keep in touch closely with the boys and always wish them well.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing home also is to spend more time with my mum and for my kids to be with their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga then explains that the short-term deal for only 18 months allows the 31-year-old to assess his future after the Rugby World Cup, instead of a longer term deal that would mean a sabbatical could already be locked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people may hate to hear me say this but it allows me to do what I feel like doing at that time,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time of finishing a World Cup, whatever the feeling is, or whatever the family situation\u2026 it allows me to be really flexible \u2013 and that\u2019s all it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying I won\u2019t stay in New Zealand post-2027, I\u2019m not saying I didn\u2019t sign [a longer contract] because I had something else teed up in Japan or somewhere else, it literally allows me to be flexible to decide what\u2019s best for me and what\u2019s best for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for the people in New Zealand who haven\u2019t followed his journey in Japan closely, Mo\u2019unga ensures them that his health and fitness have been near-perfect so far in his three-year stint at the Toshiba Brave Lupus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had any niggles. The body has been good \u2013 I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the rugby I\u2019m playing now or whether it\u2019s because we get more rest and bye weeks. But my body is holding up really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, apart from breaking my hand last year in the semifinal, I haven\u2019t had any injuries since I\u2019ve been in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, I\u2019m feeling pretty good, man. I\u2019m feeling pretty fit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga will be back in red and black for 2026, for Canterbury in the NPC, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-153159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}