{"id":203035,"date":"2025-10-16T00:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/203035\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T00:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:44:15","slug":"richie-mounga-turned-down-chance-to-become-a-dual-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/203035\/","title":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga turned down chance to become a dual international"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Richie Mo\u2019unga has revealed he turned down an approach to switch allegiances ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/rugby-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rugby World Cup<\/a> 2027 to pen a new deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/new-zealand\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Zealand<\/a> Rugby.<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old has signed an 18-month contract with the NZRU, effective from July 2026, after deciding to leave <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/toshiba-brave-lupus-tokyo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/japan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Japan<\/a> when his deal expires next year.<\/p>\n<p>Voted MVP in Japan\u2019s Rugby League One in 2025, Mo\u2019unga has helped Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo win back-to-back titles and will be aiming for a three-peat before rejoining the Crusaders.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spacer-new.png\" alt=\"Video Spacer\" width=\"100%\"\/>Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula on his Test eligibility and his uncle Richie Mo\u2019unga<\/p>\n<p>Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula chats with Finn Morton about how he qualifies for multiple countries, namely Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and about what it\u2019s like having Richie Mo\u2019unga as his uncle. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spacer-new.png\" alt=\"Video Spacer\" width=\"100%\"\/>Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula on his Test eligibility and his uncle Richie Mo\u2019unga<\/p>\n<p>Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula chats with Finn Morton about how he qualifies for multiple countries, namely Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and about what it\u2019s like having Richie Mo\u2019unga as his uncle. <\/p>\n<p>Capped 56 times, Mo\u2019unga hasn\u2019t played for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/new-zealand\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Blacks<\/a> since the final of the 2023 World Cup but is desperate to be involved in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/australia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australia<\/a> in two years, which explains why he rejected approaches from all around the world, including Tonga, according to an article on RugbyJP.com.<\/p>\n<p>Mo\u2019unga\u2019s late father was from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/tonga\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tonga<\/a> and his mother is Samoan, so he would have been eligible to represent either nation from October 2026, after a three-year stand-down period from his last cap for the All Blacks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, Tonga asked about Richie\u2019s movements, but so did every other club in the World,\u201d Mo\u2019unga\u2019s agent Cameron McIntyre told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbyjp.com\/post\/exclusive-mo-unga-turned-down-tonga-approach-to-re-sign-with-nz-rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">RugbyJP.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichie is committed to playing for the ABs in the RWC as his re-signing with NZR shows.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Mo\u2019unga has revealed he turned down an approach to switch allegiances ahead of the Rugby World Cup&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-203035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}