Hand crown to Mo’unga
assumes that this was under coaching instruction, that Perenara did not once boxkick in the whole evening. I am not sure he kicked at all. That certainly also didn’t help pull the guns off Mo’unga.
There were other unaccustomed mistakes in Mo’unga’s play. He chipped one ball away in the second half with a good chance of an overlap outside. And the flick up to Barrett in the first half, when Beauden would have streaked under the posts, was heavy-handed, although Barrett might still have caught it if he hadn’t had a peek.
But that said you could see the glittering possibilities. Mo’unga nearly had Barrett in under the posts again in the second half after a half break, but the pass went to a prop instead of the speed man on the outside. But that connection will come. Barrett is already picking the lines, the pair just now need to sort out the timing.
The option of the dual playmaker also started to develop after Aaron Smith came on. The halfback said, ‘‘They worked really well off each other for periods there which felt good and you could hear them talking to switch it or keep going the same way. Even at training, some of the stuff they were both coming up with, they’re two wizards out on the field. It’s pretty exciting.
‘‘Tens are very dominant voices and you know their voices. When they were split last night, you could definitely hear them. I was coming to rucks and looking at what side was more on and then would just trust their calls. They both want the ball, and that’s what you want as a nine, not quiet.’’
In France the dominant voice has always been the halfback. Jacques Fouroux was called ‘le petit caporal’, the nickname given to Napoleon. But in New Zealand the dominant voice is the 10. The trick now is to let Mo’unga be heard. The little wizard needs to be given the royal assent.