Starter for 10
Steve Hansen reckons every time he watches the Crusaders play at home, he’s told to pick Richie Mo’unga at first-five ahead of Beauden Barrett.
“I walk away thinking ‘we’ve already put him in the team’,” All Blacks coach Hansen said yesterday as he announced his 33-player squad for the Rugby Championship.
“He’s in the squad. He’s 24 years old and he’s played one test match.
“He’s got competition from the specialist first-five in Beauden Barrett, who’s played 64 tests, I think it is [65]. He’s been World Player of the Year twice. Both of them are very good players. Our job is to maximise the talent they’ve got and over time, you’ll see Richie get more tests, I’m sure.”
It’s fair to say, then, that Hansen has heard it all before. The latest clamour over Mo’unga has come after the Crusaders No 10 put in a man-ofthe-match performance for his team in their Super Rugby grand final victory over the Lions. A week earlier, he outplayed Barrett in the semifinal, also in Christchurch.
That performance against the Hurricanes led to Hansen defending Barrett by saying Mo’unga was playing behind a “Rolls Royce” forward pack, a comment picked up by Crusaders coach Scott Robertson in the aftermath of their final win, but the fact remains test rugby is a very different beast.
The stakes are far higher and the spotlight unremitting, especially for a first-five, which means experience is crucial. It’s clear too in the demotion of Ngani Laumape that
Mo’unga has had a big advantage playing alongside Ryan Crotty.
Barrett also hasn’t had the luxury of playing behind a pack like that possessed by the Crusaders. But as an All Black No 10, the 27-year-old’s ability to set a test agenda and navigate his team around the pitch with precision and occasional X-factor marks him out as special and one who rightly has Hansen’s full backing. “I think about a bloke before a World Cup we went to and everyone wanted us to drop Dan Carter,” Hansen said with reference to the last tournament in 2015. “But he had one ingredient the other blokes didn’t and that was experience. You saw that experience in the big moments. “We have to build slowly with Richie but in the meantime we’ve got a player in Beauden who has been the best player in the world for the last two years. We won’t be in any rush to shift him.”
It’s also probable Mo’unga won’t make the match day 23 for the first All Blacks Bledisloe Cup test against Australia in Sydney a week on Saturday. Damian McKenzie’s ability to cover first-five and fullback means he is likely to keep Mo’unga off the bench, but Hansen noted Mo’unga, who made his test debut as a replacement against France in Dunedin in June, was playing at an extremely high level. “Richie couldn’t have done any more than he’s done this year with the Crusaders. He has been outstanding,” Hansen said. “Anybody in the Canterbury [Crusaders] team could have been in the side. That’s how good a team they are. That’s why I said they have a Rolls Royce forward pack and they have a Rolls Royce team. That’s why they won the competition. They are well coached and have some great players.”