Mo’unga in the zone to seize reins
Rich vein of form: Playmaker ready to own role
As he prepares to enter his sixth and potentially final season with the All Blacks, Richie Mo’unga is ready to own the pivotal playmaking role. Partly due to his longstanding rivalry for the No 10 jersey with Beauden Barrett, partly due to the inability of the All Blacks forward pack to lay a habitually dominant platform in recent years, Mo’unga has struggled at times to replicate his influential performances for the Crusaders by proving a consistently commanding presence at test level.
This year, though, on the back of a seventh successive title with the Crusaders, and with his exit to Japanese club Toshiba on a three-year deal looming after the World Cup, Mo’unga feels more comfortable to seize the reins.
“When you come into the All Blacks, it’s high pressure stuff and doubt creeps in,” Mo’unga reflected from Mendoza, where the All Blacks open their truncated Rugby Championship campaign against the Pumas on Sunday morning.
“Playing over the years, I’ve become more comfortable with what I bring to the table and that I’m well capable. Also being a leader in this environment was hard to begin with. Wearing the 10 jersey and being a pivot demands you are a leader. When I first came in, I didn’t have the confidence. I’m ready to own that role and take charge.”
The path for Mo’unga to lock down the first five-eighth role has never been clearer.
Barrett’s stocks at No 10 have significantly dipped — to the point the All Blacks prefer his playmaking presence from fullback.
And while Damian McKenzie displayed game-management maturity from first-five to lead the Chiefs to the Super Rugby final, he remains unproven as a test director after two starts there.
Five tests out from the World Cup, the All Blacks will, fitness permitting, almost certainly throw their support behind the 29-year-old Mo’unga as their anointed controller.
Mo’unga started eight of his 30 tests at first-five last year — after being thrust into the hot seat for the upset triumph at Ellis Park when scrutiny and pressure on the All Blacks peaked.
From then on — other than the victory over Scotland in Edinburgh, where the All Blacks rotated their squad — Mo’unga was fully backed for the first time in his test career.
The test arena requires a different playmaking approach to Super Rugby. There’s less time and space for decisionmaking. Opportunities to attack from broken play, where Mo’unga often thrives, are limited. Forward packs are vastly bigger and better at challenging ball-carrying punch and desired breakdown speed, too.
Those areas shift firmly into the spotlight against the Pumas after their maiden victory on New Zealand soil last year.
Mo’unga remembers that cold and
ultimately grim August night in Christchurch; the way the Pumas suffocated the All Blacks into a stunned state, but also the notable adjustments they made to extract revenge the following week in the 53-3 demolition in Hamilton.
“When you get one-dimensional about your style of play against the Argentinians, that’s when you can pay. They’re a big, physical team with really good loose forwards who get on the ball and love to jackal. Discipline let us down as well.
“The big difference was using attacking kicks. We won our exit better and we were able to win penalties in their half, which gave us entries into their 22.
“Not trying to match them passion for passion but being really smart about how we play. That has to be brutal in terms of winning collisions but understanding when we’ve won the battle and need to get to our kicking game and a variety of how we attack as well,” he said.
“We complicate footy sometimes. There are a few parts of the game that if you keep getting right, it makes things a whole lot easier. Tactically, it’s about how well they work against different teams and making the most of the opportunities we get.
“There’s not a whole heap of time before the World Cup, but those small things you’ve got to keep chipping away at such as ruck speed, momentum, collisions, they win games. The All Blacks need to keep doing well at those things to be competitive.”
While Mo’unga will be entrusted with the keys to guide the All Blacks, he knows that responsibility is much easier when it is not his alone. This is why the All Blacks have frequently favoured Barrett at fullback to lessen the playmaking and tactical kicking burden.
With Will Jordan absent from Argentina as a precaution for his migraine-related condition, the All Blacks could, however, opt for McKenzie or hand Shaun Stevenson his debut at fullback against the Pumas.
“Your modern-day fullback is a second pivot. You look at Will Jordan, Damian, when he’s back there, or Shaun Stevenson; these guys are probably bigger kickers than the 10s. They bring variety in terms of a kicker one pass out and someone who has the ability to see things. That’s my favourite; hearing communication coming in and me trusting whether it’s a kick or pass, they’re able to see those pictures really well, so I can do as I’m told.”
The more seamless the All Blacks playmaking combinations, the better their World Cup chances.