Crusaders regain more than just a No 10 in leader Mo’unga
Twenty-two seconds into his first game back after nine weeks out, recovering from a broken jaw that had him ‘‘sort of looking for my teeth’’, Crusader first-five Richie Mo’unga took the ball up hard into the tackle of 105kg Melbourne Rebels flanker Angus Cottrell on Friday night.
At 58 seconds Mo’unga was running again. This time he ended in the paws of Rebels’ captain, the 122kg lock, Adam Coleman.
Each time the diminutive Mo’unga (only recently back to his playing weight of 88kg after losing 5kg on an enforced liquid diet), who as a child was teased by two older league playing brothers saying he had to stick with rugby because ‘‘league boys were tougher’’, bounced back.
As the Crusaders wound up and demolished the Rebels on the Australians’ home ground, Mo’unga played as if he’d never been injured, and hadn’t had any break from the game.
He may not yet be the kicking metronome that Lima Sopoaga can be, but in general play it could be that Mo’unga offers as much as Sopoaga, whose own game, as he readies to leave for the London Wasps club, is at a peak this year.
Both are seriously quick. Sopoaga will test the line, and so will Mo’unga, who as a teenager was national class touch player.
Sopoaga’s metronomic goal kicking probably gives him the edge there, but when it comes to clearing from the 22 Mo’unga has a bigger punt, and is happy to take on that job. Dan Carter set the gold standard for defence at first-five, and that’s still a work-on for Mo’unga, although he starts with the advantage of only having to improve technique. There’s no lack of courage.
Sopoaga is a serious loss to our national stocks at first-five, but Mo’unga’s development should ease the selectorial pain, especially the way he prepares and works on strategies during the week, which in the professional age is an important part of how younger players win the respect of veterans. a
Last year Crusaders back coach Leon MacDonald even compared Mo’unga with Carter, MacDonald’s former team-mate.
‘‘Very rarely do you see Richie rattled, if at all, at any level, said MacDonald. ‘‘He’s pretty casual, he enjoys a laugh, he’s a bit of a joker. And I think you need that temperament as a 10 because there’s a lot of pressure.’’
Mo’unga has already had a taste of the game at the top, playing 28 minutes off the bench for the All Blacks against a French XV in Lyon last year.
In the All Blacks camp he impressed with the fact he wasn’t, as young newcomers can be, almost too frozen with the new surroundings to ever query an instruction. ‘‘Thoughtful’’, is a word that crops up in discussions about Mo’unga with All Blacks leaders.
He may not make the squad for the June tests with France, facing, as he does, competition from Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie, who offers the great combination for a match-day 23 of covering first-five and fullback.
If three first-fives are chosen he looks the prime contender for the third spot, but with injuries in, for example, the front row and amongst the loose forwards, the need to look at more forwards may squeeze him out. But in the meantime he’s a key man for the Crusaders, and with every game he furthers his All Blacks prospects.
‘‘He gives us balanced, levelheaded leadership, in our leadup, and then in the weekend,’’ coach Scott Robertson told me yesterday. ‘‘He has an ability during the week to stand up, and deliver key messages with clarity and power. Richie’s a local boy, and that adds to what he says.’’
Mo’unga was born in Christchurch, attending St Andrew’s College on a sports scholarship.
He’s said that one of the proudest moments of his life was in 2013, just out of school, when he ran on, ‘‘with two minutes to go’’, as a 19-year-old replacement in his first game for Canterbury, against Taranaki in Christchurch.
Now, says Robertson: ‘‘You can hear from the passion in his voice that he really cares about the team, and how we perform. It’s that passion that helps build the respect his team-mates have for him.’’