FEATURE Richie Mo'unga has come of age as an All Blacks No 10

As most All Blacks observers are now aware, there are a handful of key selections and initiatives that have helped the team turn their fortunes around since they were in all sorts of turmoil in August last year.

One of the big differences between the All Blacks now and in the middle of last year when they were sitting on a 15 per cent win ratio across six Tests, is that they have found four mobile props who can scrummage.

Form being oddly wedded to the likes of Angus Ta’avao and Karl Tu’inukuafe, the All Blacks have been brave enough to turn to the young brigade of Ethan de Groot, Tyrel Lomax, Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell as their four match day props.

Having four ball players and tacklers has greatly altered the All Blacks’ ability to play a high tempo, multi-recycling game, and the arrival of Lomax as a genuine scrummaging force has given them the anchor they need to set a destructive scrum.

The discovery, or perhaps that should be the maturing of Shannon Frizell has given them the player they need in the No 6 jersey.

Between 2020 and 2022 the All Blacks looked like they were never going to find the bruising presence they demanded on the blindside flank.

In the end, the guy that came through for them was Frizell, who was in and out of the squad in that period and never quite looked like he was going to deliver the consistency that the role required.

Until, that is, earlier this year when he suddenly looked the part with the Highlanders and then took his game to the next level with the All Blacks.

He’s given the All Blacks a second go-to ball carrier alongside Scott Barrett, a powerful tackler, a strong lineout option and he’s also balanced the back-row to enable Sam Cane and Ardie Savea to function at their best.

And then of course there was the decision to shift Jordie Barrett to second five late last year.

But perhaps the most important decision the All Blacks have made in the last 15 months has been to commit to Richie Mo’unga as their first five-eighth.

That was a game-changer as it gave the backline the dual qualities of confrontation and play-making, and so effective has Barrett been in his preferred role that it is almost impossible to remember why the All Blacks were so reluctant to ever put him there.

But perhaps the most important decision the All Blacks have made in the last 15 months has been to commit to Richie Mo’unga as their first five-eighth.

It’s a decision that has probably not had the attention or focus it deserves, which is somewhat strange given the hype there was back in 2020 and 2021 about whether the All Blacks would pick Mo’unga or Beauden Barrett at No 10.

Back then it felt like it was the only debate anyone ever wanted to have, and it was one that was continually fuelled by the All Blacks’ inability to make up their minds about who they preferred.

It was clear that head coach Ian Foster wanted to see them both at the helm and they were swapped about as starters until the Rugby Championship in 2021 when it became apparent that Barrett had become the preferred option.

It almost seemed as if Foster was determined to reach that outcome because Mo’unga could never quite catch a break.

The Crusaders No 10 played the best Test of his career in a record defeat of the Wallabies in Sydney 2020 and the following week he was on the bench in Brisbane.

Then in 2021, he played superbly in the two Bledisloe Cup Tests in New Zealand but was unavailable for much of the Rugby Championship because he stayed in New Zealand for the birth of his child and then had to observe Queensland’s strict, two-week isolation rules when he flew over to join the squad.

By the time he was available again, Barrett had sewn up the jersey.

And any doubt about that was removed in the final game of the season in Paris when Barrett was unavailable due to a head knock and Mo’unga came into the starting team.

It was his big opportunity for him to lay down a marker, but he disappeared that night at Stade de France.

He had disappeared in Paris, but not in Johannesburg. He wanted to own the big moments and he took responsibility for the game plan.

The All Blacks needed a tactical general and a source of inspiration, but Mo’unga sat too deep and didn’t appear to want to force himself into the game.

It wasn’t that he played badly, more that he didn’t really play at all and when the 2022 Test season kicked off, Foster went straight back to Barrett at No 10.

That lasted until the All Blacks played their fifth match of the year and Foster, knowing that only a win at Ellis Park could save his job – and even then it might not – returned Mo’unga to the No 10 jersey in the hope it would spark something. And it did.

The All Blacks famously won against the odds and the key period was the last 10 minutes when, after making a rash decision to try to run out of the defensive zone – which led to him losing the ball – Mo’unga took an iron-clad grip of proceedings.

He had disappeared in Paris, but not in Johannesburg. He wanted to own the big moments and he took responsibility for the game plan.

He didn’t play perfectly, but he did play bravely, and his game management was strong.

As former All Blacks captain Kieran Read would tell SENZ radio: “Richie Mo’unga was the guy for me, who steered the ship around and got us in the right areas of the field.”

Here we are now, 14 months on from that match at Ellis Park and Mo’unga has come of age as a Test player, and it is largely because he’s been consistently picked.

That’s all it really took for him to build his confidence and become the same sort of game manager and leader for the All Blacks as he is with the Crusaders.

For too long he was bumped in and out of the starting team and it undoubtedly eroded his confidence. There was always this sense that he saw himself as the junior partner to Barrett and maybe that’s why Mo’unga found it hard to be a dominant and controlling force prior to the second half of 2022.

But in the wake of the All Blacks’ masterful quarter-final victory against Ireland, it has become apparent that Mo’unga is a vastly different test player to the one he was 14 months ago.

For Mo’unga, there must be a deeper poignancy that his coming-of-age performance for the All Blacks came at the Stade de France

His performance against Ireland was the best of his career. He kicked well, he passed well, he tackled well, and his game management was outstanding. All this in a huge game.

There was no sense of Mo’unga deferring to anyone and most importantly, he owned the big moments, none more significant than the try he set up for Will Jordan after 52 minutes.

The All Blacks won a four-man lineout, Aaron Smith fired a long pass to Mo’unga who, by holding the ball in two hands with Jordan and Ardie Savea on either side of him, managed to create a gap between hooker Dan Sheehan and Josh van der Flier.

“We practised that move the whole week, and it was Will going through,” said Mo’unga.

“They had two defenders who held off, and I went through. Luckily he was there because I didn’t have the pace to go all the way. When you have someone like [Jordan] around, he attracts defenders because of the threat he is.”

For Mo’unga, there must be a deeper poignancy that his coming-of-age performance for the All Blacks came at the Stade de France and that he has the chance to make two more statement performances in Paris.

This was the ground, after all, at which he made no impression at all in 2021. And now, he’s back in Paris as probably the best No 10 in the world (in consideration of Johnny Sexton’s retirement and Romain Ntamack’s injury), and the undisputed play-making king of the All Blacks.

Now that he has the confidence to take control of the delivery of the game plan, the All Blacks are a significantly better team.

Being strong enough to stick with Mo’unga has been transformational for the All Blacks. He’s become the bold and decisive game-manager the All Blacks need and all it took was time and the security of being consistently picked.

By clarifying the pecking order, it has also become easier for Mo’unga to alter his relationship with Barrett.

If he used to defer to the more senior man, he no longer does and Barrett says the two now get each other better both as players and people.

“The link or relationship has grown significantly on and off the field,” says Barrett.

“We understand each other more and we understand how we can contribute to the team in different areas of the game, particularly in phase play when it gets broken up and out of structure, we are both there and we can bounce off each other.

“If Richie is in the ruck I can stand up and direct play, and vice-versa. It has been a pleasure to play with Rich, the 10-15 combination is very important for this team.”