Mo’unga deserves a shot

Your turn, Richie Mo’unga. As tough follow up acts go, this looks a doozey. It’s highly possible – likely even – that Mo’unga could be handed a starting opportunity for the All Blacks in their next Rugby Championship outing, against Argentina in Nelson on September 8.

The moons certainly seem to be lining up in that scenario’s favour. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has talked about ‘‘growing the talent we have’’ and the Pumas fixture allowing them to try a few things that a Bledisloe Cup one might not.

‘‘We’ve got a plan we’ve put in place, and we’ve just got to trust everybody to do their jobs. You can’t get sidetracked by results. You’ve got to understand what you’re trying to do,’’ he said on Sunday before heading off with his players for a little bit of down-time.

That points to some strategic changes for the Argentina match to tick three important boxes: giving backup players a much-needed run in a highstakes test that will benefit their experience; allowing Hansen and Ian Foster to make some important assessments about the next level of talent in their squad; and lightening the load on some of the team’s more heavily worked players who have some big-time tests still to come in 2018.

And Mo’unga’s exclusion from the All Blacks players released to appear for their provinces this week indicates he might just be at the top of their list to throw into the mix.

If that is the case, Saturday week in Nelson will be both a fantastic opportunity for the young Crusaders first five-eighth, and a daunting one.

Beauden Barrett has just unleashed one of the finest performances by an All Blacks No 10 in test history – maybe even the best of them all – and now they’re saying to his young understudy, coming off a Super Rugby season that had his supporters in full voice, ‘‘your turn’’.

But knowing the way Hansen thinks, and his keenness to imbue young players with experience and characterbuilding opportunities, that could be exactly what they do. What better way to see what Mo’unga is made of? He’s in form, his confidence is high, and he would be slotting into a team that, even with a few judicious tweaks, is right on top of its game.

Look, the Mo’unga v Barrett debate, if there ever was such a thing, is now dead in the water. Barrett’s fabulous opening fortnight of the Rugby Championship, and his performance for the ages at Eden Park, have confirmed what knowledgeable rugby folk have believed all along.

Barrett is in a one-man race for the

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All Blacks No 10 jersey. He is that good. That important.

And, frankly, Damian McKenzie has done nothing over the Bledisloe sweep to suggest the call to install him as the designated bench backup and impact man is off the mark. He is becoming a supersub of the highest quality, and is already drawing comparisons with the role performed by Barrett over the 2012-15 cycle.

But depth is important. And so is succession planning. Barrett is human, and he could get injured. At some stage he might be tempted by the megamillions that will be on offer up north. It’s unlikely he would tarnish his legacy with a premature move, but a possibility.

It’s important the All Blacks keep their options open at 10, and Mo’unga has the sort of class and playmaking ability that cannot be ignored.