'World class': Neil Barnes weighs in on Richie Mo'unga's Test return

All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes has weighed in on Richie Mo’unga’s first Test start since the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final, where the All Blacks were beaten 43-28 by the Springboks in Baltimore.

Mo’unga made his second appearance for the All Blacks since returning from a three-year deal in Japan at the Toshiba Brave Lupus.

The Crusaders first-five returned for his province, Canterbury, for the first three games of the 2026 Hilux NPC competition, before joining the All Blacks squad ahead of the first Test against South Africa.

Barnes, who discussed the first-five’s performance on Weekend Sport on Newstalk ZB, was happy to have Mo’unga back.

“Yeah, pretty good. I think everyone would be pretty happy to see him on the field,” the All Blacks assistant said.

“It gives us depth in that position. He’s got a s***load of experience, so yeah, I don’t think anything today he got wrong.

“He’s actually a good player, world-class player. So it’s nice to have him back playing for us.”

Barnes felt that Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour significantly helped the All Blacks’ depth, especially with the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia just over a year away.

“Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t have boxes to count them, but yeah, I think if you look at how we’ve grown as a group, we’ve created a shitload of depth in the side.

“A lot of people have played Test rugby and performed very, very well against one of the best sides in the world. So there are way more positive things to come out of this than the negative on the 3-1 loss.

“So yeah, there are truckloads of positives that we’ve had here, and as far as preparation for the future for us leading into a World Cup, you couldn’t have wanted for a better situation to be put under this sort of heat.

“Because that’s exactly what you get when you hop into a World Cup if you want to win it.”

“100 per cent [in a better place]. We would all love to have come out of this with a positive result on the scorecard, but we didn’t.

“But when you go back to what you’re talking about- ticking boxes- there are, bloody, way more positives that come out of this than anything negative, creating a lot of depth in a lot of positions, which is going to help us on the way through.”