{"id":556430,"date":"2026-08-02T17:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556430\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T17:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:39:27","slug":"returning-all-black-richie-mounga-scores-winner-in-provincial-return-despite-shaky-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556430\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning All Black Richie Mo’unga scores winner in provincial return despite ‘shaky’ start"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richie Mo\u2019unga has completed his return to New Zealand<\/a> with a match-winning try for Canterbury against Auckland in the National Provincial Championship.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old arrived off the bench early in the second half for his first NPC appearance since 2020, and his first against Auckland since 2017.<\/p>\n

He looked nervy early on, dropping his first high ball after misjudging the flight path, and later he dragged a simple conversion attempt to the left after Jamie Hannah equalled the scores for Canterbury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, like all top players, he stepped up when it really mattered.<\/p>\n

With just three minutes left on the clock, Mo\u2019unga<\/a> stepped in at scrum half as Canterbury were camped on the line, before darting to the right, evading three would-be tacklers to score the winner.<\/p>\n

Final score: Auckland 31-38 Canterbury<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Springboks: Siya Kolisi reveals the post-playing career option that would drive him \u2018crazy\u2019 and names \u2018best place to be\u2019 when \u2018going through a tough time\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the match, Mo\u2019unga spoke to The Press NZ, discussing his delight at playing at One NZ Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bit of a shaky start for myself with the dropped ball, but I\u2019m just so proud to be back playing in the new stadium,\u201d he said pitchside. \u201cJust grateful to be playing now in front of my family and friends, and just happy to get that one under the belt. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome! Like, just a world-class facility and something that Christchurch has been waiting for for a very long time. It\u2019s just a true honour to play in it for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s All Blacks future<\/p>\n

After finishing his three-year stint with Toshiba Brave Lupus last month, Mo\u2019unga has recently spent time on the sidelines nursing a calf injury but is now back to full fitness, and his appearance in the NPC now makes him eligible for the All Blacks ahead of their Greatest Rivalry tour of South Africa.<\/p>\n

The squad has already been selected without Mo\u2019unga in it, but head coach Dave Rennie<\/a> has refused to rule him out completely, saying: \u201cThere is a chance,\u201d before adding, \u201cIf we had an injury at 10, then he\u2019s an option to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mo\u2019unga has also considered his international future, revealing recently: \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 of months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it 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

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Springboks: Rassie Erasmus reveals \u2018my biggest fear, that\u2019s my nightmare\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga has completed his return to New Zealand with a match-winning try for Canterbury against Auckland in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1463,111,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-556430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556430","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=556430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}