{"id":549814,"date":"2026-07-29T16:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/549814\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T16:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:24:09","slug":"all-blacks-richie-mounga-set-to-become-eligible-for-greatest-rivalry-tour-after-npc-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/549814\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks: Richie Mo’unga set to become eligible for Greatest Rivalry tour after NPC selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richie Mo\u2019unga is set to make his long-awaited return to action in New Zealand<\/a> with Canterbury in Saturday\u2019s National Provincial Championship (NPC) clash with Auckland in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old fly-half has been named on Canterbury\u2019s replacements bench for their tournament opener.<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga<\/a> is currently ineligible for All Blacks<\/a> selection after 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

Richie Mo\u2019unga to make second Canterbury debut<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as one of the game\u2019s leading playmakers, Mo\u2019unga was at the forefront of the Crusaders\u2019 attacking onslaught when they won seven consecutive Super Rugby titles in a row 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 is now fully recovered and set to make his first appearance in the NPC since 2020.<\/p>\n

He said he is looking forward to returning to action for Canterbury under the guidance of their new head coach Alex Robertson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s just footy, and I just love playing rugby, whether it\u2019s here in Christchurch or in Japan,\u201d Mo\u2019unga told reporters after a Canterbury training session on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a competitor, I\u2019m someone that always wants to be better and striving to be a great, and that\u2019s at all levels. This week it\u2019s NPC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga has been barred from being selected for the All Blacks\u2019 44-man squad for their eagerly anticipated Greatest Rivalry tour to South Africa until he has played at least one game for Canterbury in the NPC.<\/p>\n

Could still feature on Greatest Rivalry tour<\/p>\n

This is due to a self-imposed New Zealand Rugby ruling, but All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie<\/a> said earlier this week Mo\u2019unga could be added to his squad.<\/p>\n

All Blacks to find \u2018genuine\u2019 World Cup options in South Africa as Dave Rennie answers Richie Mo\u2019unga and Rieko Ioane question<\/a><\/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

Mo\u2019unga has also given his thoughts about the possibility of being a late addition to the All Blacks squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to it, and to be honest, my mind has thought of every possible scenario around what could happen over the next couple months,\u201d he revealed recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it sort of boils down to one thing \u2013 I can\u2019t control any of that. So, the best thing I can do is just be ready and play some good rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from Mo\u2019unga, Canterbury also have two other All Blacks representatives in their matchday squad for the clash with Auckland.<\/p>\n

They are promising lock Jamie Hannah, who made his international debut off the bench against France in Christchurch earlier this month, and one-Test All Blacks utility back Dallas McLeod, who is set to join PREM Rugby outfit Exeter Chiefs at the completion of Canterbury\u2019s NPC campaign.<\/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

Canterbury team to face Auckland<\/p>\n

Canterbury 15 Chay Fihaki, 14 Ngane Punivai, 13 Dallas McLeod, 12 Jone Rova, 11 Kurtis MacDonald, 10 Andrew Knewstubb, 9 Louie Chapman, 8 Torian Barnes, 7 Corey Kellow, 6 Dominic Gardiner, 5 Jamie Hannah, 4 Tahlor Cahill, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Brodie McAlister (c), 1 Finlay Brewis
Replacements: 16 Manumau Letiu, 17 Lewis Ponini, 18 Seb Calder, 19 Liam Jack, 20 Finn McLeod, 21 Tyson Belworthy, 22 Richie Mo\u2019unga, 23 Tevita Latu<\/p>\n

Date: Saturday, August 1
Venue: One NZ Stadium, Christchurch
Kick-off: 19:10 local (08:10 BST, 07:10 GMT)
Referee: tbc
Assistant Referees: tbc
TMO: tbc<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Loose Pass: \u2018Abhorrent\u2019 amount of referee abuse in New Zealand and concussion case enters \u2018unprecedented territory\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga is set to make his long-awaited return to action in New Zealand with Canterbury in Saturday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,111,43,139,69,116474,213],"class_list":["post-549814","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-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549814","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=549814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}