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All black people Assistant coach Neil Barnes measured Richie Mo’unga’s first Test since 2023. Rugby World Cup The final, where the All Blacks were beaten 43-28 by the Springboks in Baltimore.
Mo’unga is making his second appearance for the All Blacks after returning from a three-year deal Japan in Toshiba Brave Lupus.
The Crusaders The first-five returned to their home province, Canterbury, for the first three games of 2026. Hilux NPC competition, before joining the All Blacks ahead of the first Test against South Africa.
Barnes, who discussed the performance of the first five Weekend Sport on Newstalk ZBhe was happy to have Mo’unga back.
“Yeah, pretty good. I think everyone would be happy to see him on the field,” the All Blacks assistant said.
“It gives us depth in that position. He has a lot of experience, so yeah, I don’t think he did anything wrong today.”
“He’s actually a good player, a world-class player. So it’s nice that he’s back to play for us.”
Barnes felt rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour had helped the All Blacks’ depth significantly, especially with the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Australia just over a year.
“Well, to be completely honest, I haven’t had the boxes to count, but yeah, I think if you look at how we’ve grown as a group, we’ve built a ton of depth in the side.
“A lot of people have played Test rugby and played very, very well against one of the best teams in the world. So there’s a lot more positives to come out of this than negatives from a 3-1 loss.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of positives we’ve had here, and in terms of preparing for the future leading into the World Cup, you couldn’t ask for a better situation to be put under this kind of heat.
“Because that’s exactly what you get when you go into the World Cup if you want to win it.”
“100 percent (in a better place). We all would have liked to have come out of this with a positive result on the scoreboard, but we didn’t.
“But when you get back to what you’re talking about — marking the box — there’s a hell of a lot more positives coming out of this than anything negative, creating a lot of depth at a lot of positions, which will help us get through.”
