MO'UNGA
Richie

• 1. Club career

Richie Mo'unga is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a first five-eighth for Japan Rugby League One club Toshiba Brave Lupus and the New Zealand national team.

Club career

He was not named as a full member of Canterbury's squad for the 2013 ITM Cup, but in what was just his first year out of school, he was called up to cover injuries and All Black absences and went on to make 8 appearances during the campaign which finished with Canterbury defeating Wellington in the Premiership final. He was upgraded to a full squad member in 2014 and played in 10 matches, featuring both at first five-eighth and fullback as Canterbury fell in the tournament's semifinal stage.

He again made 10 appearances as Canterbury regained their ITM Cup Premiership title in 2015 with a 50-20 win over Springboks in the final.

As a result of his excellent domestic showings for Canterbury, Mo'unga was named in the Crusaders Wider Training Group for the 2015 Super Rugby season. However due to the presence of the likes of Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Tom Taylor in the Crusaders backline, he did not get any game time in his first season at Super Rugby level.

Nonetheless, the departures of all three players ahead of the 2016 season saw Mo'unga promoted to the full Crusaders squad. He made his debut on 27 February 2016 in a match at home to the Chiefs and went on to start all 16 matches during a season which ended with Crusaders losing 42-25 to the Lions in Johannesburg in the quarterfinals.

The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup saw him firmly established in the number 10 jersey for Canterbury, as they went on to be crowned New Zealand champions for the 8th time in 9 years.

Mo'unga started in all of his 13 games in the 2017 season for the Crusaders. Mo'unga scored 10 points in the 2017 Super Rugby Final in Johannesburg, South Africa against the Lions, leading the Crusaders to a 25-17 win and their 8th Super Rugby title.

Mo'unga finished the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup season as the leading point scorer in the competition, scoring 160 points in just 10 games for Canterbury. In the final against Tasman, Mo'unga broke the record for the most points scored in a final when he scored 25 points (2 tries, 3 conversions and 3 penalties). He was named Man of the Match.

In 2018, Mo'unga started in 12 games for the Crusaders. This included a Man of the Match performance in the Super Rugby Final played in Christchurch, New Zealand where he scored 17 points to lead the Crusaders to their second consecutive title.

Mo'unga had a poor start to the 2019 Super Rugby season, beginning the season with a low kicking percentage. Despite his poor start to the season, Mo'unga eventually kicked on, finishing the Crusaders "three peat" season as one of the competition's highest points scorers, second only to Handré Pollard from the Bulls. Mo'unga scored 20 points in the semifinal, as well as 14 points in the final, which was a win over the Jaguares.

Since the start of 2020 Mo'unga has become one of the best first five-eighth in New Zealand with outstanding performances during Super Rugby, leading the Crusaders to Super Rugby Aotearoa titles in both 2020 and 2021 and again in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season with the side now having won six years in a row.