Red-and-blacks at the double
Title win ample consolation for Mo’unga
Give Richie Mo’unga a national provincial title over the Ranfurly Shield any day of the week.
Mo’unga, whose finals record 25-point haul inspired Canterbury to their 14th national title on Saturday night, made that pretty clear after his team’s 35-13 win against Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup final at AMI Stadium.
‘‘The Ranfurly Shield is a huge loss and a big blow in our season, but we’ve won the comp. Back-toback-to-back, that’s three in a row. I’ll take this over the Shield any day,’’ he said.
Making amends for losing the Shield against Taranaki earlier in the month was Canterbury’s prime objective, with numerous players and coaches saying winning the title was the only way they’d be able to bury the 55-43 loss.
So when Mo’unga, who earlier scored two tries and gashed the Makos for 143 metres on 17 carries, fittingly hoofed the ball into touch after the final hooter, the joy was plain to see.
‘‘Whose got it better than us?’’ Mo’unga barked at the conclusion of the team’s celebratory chant. ‘‘Nobody!’’ was the emphatic response from his team-mates.
Having just won a ninth title in
10 years, the Canterbury dynasty is showing no signs of slowing down as it closes in on Auckland’s
16 titles.
‘‘To set out a vision like this at the start of the season, and then to achieve it with a good group of men and a good group of boys. It hasn’t been the perfect season for us, there’s been a lot more downs than we’re used to, but I’m proud of the way we really stuck in and kept getting up,’’ Mo’unga said.
Losing the Shield wasn’t the only painful moment of the season, which started with a 39-0 win against Tasman.
A 60-14 towelling, the team’s worst loss in their 138-year history, at the hands of Wellington in round five raised eyebrows. It marked just the fourth time they’d conceded 50 or more points, only for it to happen a fifth time against Taranaki.
However, when it mattered, they regrouped and delivered the province another title to ensure the joint Crusaders and Canterbury headquarters at Rugby Park is home to both the Super Rugby trophy and national provincial title for the first time since 2008.
‘‘We’ve kind of come full circle,’’ departing Canterbury coach Glenn Delaney said. ’’We got the opening game 100 per cent right, and I think we got the last game pretty right.
‘‘It’s really satisfying. The boys have worked really hard all season and it’s not all gone our way.
There’s been lots of learning, but to put a performance together like that – at the time it mattered – shows their character and their ability to focus and concentrate on the big item.’’
Mo’unga, compared to All Blacks legend Dan Carter by Tasman coach Leon MacDonald
earlier this year, said jumped on a plane bound for London last night. The 23-year-old and team-mates Dominic Bird and Mitchell Drummond will play for the Barbarians against the All Blacks next weekend, before joining the national side for the French leg of the northern tour.
‘‘We want to succeed, we want to be better players, we want to be better people. We’re always asking more of each other and that’s why this [team] is so successful. I don’t like it when it’s a day off. I want to come in and see the boys. I want to keep training hard and keep making everyone better.’’