{"id":427285,"date":"2026-05-14T12:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427285\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:53:09","slug":"all-blacks-news-springboks-legends-stunned-by-nz-rugbys-richie-mounga-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427285\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks news: Springboks legends stunned by NZ Rugby’s Richie Mo’unga stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger insist that the Springboks would never allow one of their star players to miss The Greatest Rivalry Series on a \u201ctechnicality\u201d.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks head to South Africa in August to face their arch-rivals but, as things stand, they will definitely be without Richie Mo\u2019unga.<\/p>\n

Despite returning to New Zealand at the end of the Japan Rugby League One season, which concludes in June, the fly-half will not be eligible until October.<\/p>\n

That means he will miss the Nations Championship fixtures in July and the Tests with the Springboks in August and September.<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby\u2019s firm stance<\/p>\n

New All Blacks<\/a> head coach Dave Rennie has asked NZ Rugby to make an exception for Mo\u2019unga, but the governing body are refusing to budge.<\/p>\n

The playmaker could be called up if there are injuries, however, and Burger therefore expects to see the 31-year-old involved in some form.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess there will be an \u2018injury\u2019, that\u2019s what I think will happen. That\u2019s the legislation but he\u2019s such a good player, he will somehow make the trip,\u201d the former back-rower said on the Boks Unpacked podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will hide away for the first week and someone will have a toe [issue] bending backwards and he will be on the plane.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be, he\u2019s a great player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel Dagg slams \u2018ridiculous\u2019 Richie Mo\u2019unga stance as NZ Rugby continue to \u2018get in their own way\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

De Villiers agreed and believes that Rennie should be able to have Mo\u2019unga<\/a> available to him for the upcoming Springboks<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

Springboks would \u2018find a way\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you feel that there\u2019s a player, and it\u2019s Richie Mo\u2019unga in this instance, that can make a difference to your squad and can add value to a squad, surely a technicality like that will not hold him back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got the authorities and people in charge there that can just make a call. The coach, Dave Rennie,<\/a> can make a call and say: \u2018I want that guy, he\u2019s playing in New Zealand now, he needs to come on tour\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly if it was South Africa, we would find a way round that because it would just be stupid. Imagine he goes and plays an NPC game and gets injured, or something ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burger then chimed in, adding: \u201cEspecially because they\u2019ve made the commitment. If they were continuing or doing half a contract [in Japan], they\u2019re coming back to New Zealand rugby to play and further their careers there \u2013 that\u2019s a big enough commitment. You then don\u2019t have to put them through a club game or in our case a Currie Cup or SA Cup game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they will find a loophole in and around that injury term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga is set to return to New Zealand after three seasons in Japan with Toshiba Brave Lupus, but NZ Rugby laws stipulate that he must feature in the NPC before playing Test rugby having decided not to recommit to the governing body post-2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

That is different to the likes of Ardie Savea whose short-term stints in Asia were part of the contract he signed with NZR.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Springboks alignment camp: Winners and losers as Rassie Erasmus\u2019 \u2018masterplan\u2019 becomes clear while Evan Roos handed \u2018big chance\u2019 after recent brain fades<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger insist that the Springboks would never allow one of their star players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,111,43,139,69,116474,1466,213],"class_list":["post-427285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-richie-mo","tag-south-africa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427285","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=427285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}