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'The rivalry continues': Mo'unga opens up in battle with Barrett

By Alex McLeod
(Photos / Getty Images)

All Blacks playmaker Richie Mo’unga says “the rivalry continues” between him and Beauden Barrett for the New Zealand No. 10 jersey ahead of this week’s clash with Fiji in Hamilton.

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The superstar duo are in the midst of a battle against one another to start at first-five for the All Blacks after two years of working in tandem as part of a controversial dual playmaker scheme.

Barrett started at first-five in a test match for the All Blacks for the first time since 2019 on Saturday after largely being used at fullback by former head coach Sir Steve Hansen and current boss Ian Foster.

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Flying Fijians coach Vern Cotter on the need for his team to play top teams regularly

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Flying Fijians coach Vern Cotter on the need for his team to play top teams regularly

Although the 30-year-old was a little subdued in his side’s 57-23 win over Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, the outing will be pleasing for Barrett after Mo’unga dominated the No. 10 jersey for the past two years.

The week beforehand, Mo’unga was handed the starting honours in New Zealand’s 102-0 thumping of Tonga in Auckland in a match where he performed admirably against a vastly underprepared ‘Ikale Tahi side.

Foster’s decision to chop and change between the duo early on in the test campaign is perhaps reflective of how he intends to use them both throughout the rest of the international season.

With Barrett vying for a place in the starting team as a first-five rather than a fullback, Mo’unga is aware of the battle he has on his hands to keep the two-time World Rugby Player of the Year out of the jersey he has made his own in recent years.

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“He’s doing well,” Mo’unga told media on Monday when asked about his relationship with Barrett after the later came back into All Blacks camp from his six-month sabbatical in Japan.

“He’s tracking well. His Japanese is really good and he’s come back with a few kicking drills that I’ve enjoyed watching him do, working on his left and right foot spiral, as you would have seen on the weekend.

“Our relationship’s the same. It’s awesome. We both have daughters that are similar age. The rivalry continues with us, battling it out for the 10 jersey, which is really healthy. It’s good, good for us both.”

Despite missing out to Barrett on a place in last week’s match day squad, Mo’unga insisted his mindset remained as sharp and competitive on the sideline as it would have been had he been playing.

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“My energy’s the same. It’s very much the same as if I was playing. The nerves are still the same, except I’m just in the stands watching,” Mo’unga said of his experience as a spectator last weekend.

“But, as soon as I found out I wasn’t playing, it was switching over to see how I can prepare the boys the best I can and what I can give Beaudy what he needs to prepare well so he can play well knowing that he’s prepared really well.”

That being said, the 27-year-old pivot doesn’t appear as willing to let Barrett waltz back into the starting side for this week’s re-match against Fiji at FMG Stadium Waikato.

“Early stages of the week, it’s preparing to play again. It starts again.”

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

39 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

39 Go to comments
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