So, out came Richie Mo\u2019unga, the 56-Test All Black, with the score 26-21 in Canterbury\u2019s favour. His three years in Japan haven\u2019t changed him much physically, but appearances only tell part of the story.<\/p>\n
TVNZ is broadcasting all NPC matches live and free on TVNZ+<\/a>, with three games broadcast on TVNZ 1 \u2013 a flagship Saturday primetime match at 7pm, alongside Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm.<\/p>\n What about his state of mind? His vision? Hunger?<\/p>\n His first act was to drop a high kick on the halfway mark. It was a tricky one \u2013 even under the roof. Mo\u2019unga was never really in position to comfortably take it – the ball going away from him \u2013 and down it went.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fair to say he grew into the game. A kick into space here, a reasonable pass there, but, after missing a relatively simple conversion by his standards \u2013 a kick that would have put Canterbury ahead after lock Jamie Hannah\u2019s try levelled the score 31-31 \u2013 here was the moment that made the headlines.<\/p>\n With time running out, a penalty \u2013 for a blatant act of foul play on Andrew Knewstubb, the man in the red and black No.10 jersey \u2013 was kicked to the corner by Mo\u2019unga, a lineout won, a maul formed and on the march.<\/p>\n It stopped just shy of Auckland\u2019s tryline and there was Mo\u2019unga in the No.22 jersey (not a number he\u2019s used to wearing) at the back of the ruck surveying his options.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s pause here for a moment and remind ourselves that Mo\u2019unga, now aged 32, learned a great deal of his craft playing touch rugby on the fields of Christchurch, a sport in which he represented New Zealand as a teenager.<\/p>\n Richie Mo’unga scores the match-winning try for Canterbury. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n Mo\u2019unga\u2019s ability to beat players by creating space for himself and others with a subtle shift and move to the outside was developed on those fields and is still one of his greatest weapons. <\/p>\n He still loves the sport \u2013 he told me after an interview from Japan<\/a> in November last year that playing touch with his mates in summer was one of the things he missed about New Zealand.<\/p>\n And so here he was with the game in the balance and the ball in his hands against Auckland with some big visiting tight forwards in front of him as though the script had been written specifically for him.<\/p>\n![\"Richie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/richie-mounga-scores-the-match-winning-try-for-canterbury-DOB3WS4D5VAVZLXSBY7KCYEDBQ.png\")
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