Richie Mo'unga signed with Toshiba in late 2022. Photo / Photosport
Negotiations to bring Richie Mo’unga home next year are believed to have hit an impasse as there is not yet clarity or certainty on when precisely the 31-year-old former Crusaders star would become eligible to resume his test career once he’s back in New Zealand.
Whether Mo’unga, the man famously described by All Blacks coach Scott Robertson as his franchise quarterback when they were both at the Crusaders, can be lured home next year when his contract with Japanese club Toshiba Brave Lupus ends has become one of the great sagas of this World Cup cycle.
The 31-year-old signed with Toshiba in late 2022, just a few months before it was announced that Robertson would be taking over as All Blacks coach after the 2023 World Cup.
It’s a situation that has seemingly filled Robertson with frustration and Mo’unga with regret. The former spent time last year trying to build a plan to extricate Mo’unga out of his contract early, while the latter spoke publicly about how much he missed playing international rugby.
Despite a desire to reunite, no agreement was reached on how to structure an early release – talks are now active about Mo’unga returning to New Zealand when his Japanese commitment finishes next year.
But this whole business of when he will be available for selection is understood to be vexing the discussions.
Mo’unga will play for his Japanese club Toshiba Brave Lupus next year and, should he agree to re-sign with New Zealand Rugby (NZR), will be back in the country by mid-May 2026.
But under NZR’s eligibility rules, even though Mo’unga will have signed a contract – probably for at least three years – he’ll be off-limits to head coach Scott Robertson until the Bledisloe Cup series in September-October.
Mo’unga will effectively be agreeing to an almost five-month continuation of his international rugby hiatus, despite making the commitment to come home.
While his former teammates Rieko Ioane (Leinster), Anton Lienert-Brown and Ardie Savea (both Kobe) will all play offshore next year, all three will be immediately available for the All Blacks’ July tests.
The distinction between them and Mo’unga is that they are playing offshore as part of sabbatical agreements – perks that have been granted based on their longevity and loyalty.
Mo’unga, should he decide to come home, will have to travel a longer path back to the international arena because NZR doesn’t have an eligibility system so much as a loyalty programme.
Judgment on when returning players can be picked depends on how long they have been away, how many test caps they may previously have won and the length of commitment they have made on their return.
Mo’unga’s former Crusaders teammate Leicester Fainga’anuku has just returned from 18 months in France, where he was playing for Toulon, and while he’s contracted to NZR through to 2027, he’s been told he won’t be eligible for the All Blacks until after the Rugby Championship.
Previously, Damian McKenzie had to endure the same fate when he came back from a season in Japan in 2021 – required to play a full campaign for Waikato before he could be considered for national duty.
There is capacity in the system for exemptions to be made – for the All Blacks coach to appeal to the NZR board to allow an individual to be fast-tracked back into the squad, typically on the basis that they have an injury crisis.
And it’s this whole issue of when Mo’unga will become available to resume his test career that may determine whether he comes home or not.
Every game is going to count in his quest to rekindle his test career and re-establish himself as the country’s first-choice No 10 ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
There are likely to be 20 games from 2026 through to the World Cup – and unless Mo’unga is granted an exemption, he’ll miss the three Nations Cup tests in July and the Greatest Rivalry tour of South Africa, which will see the All Blacks play four tests.
Without an exemption, Mo’unga will only become available for the two-test Bledisloe series in September-October.
In total, he’ll likely only have 12 tests – the four Nations Cup tests in November and the Rugby Championship in 2027 – to win a place in the All Blacks’ World Cup squad.
But granting an exemption to Mo’unga to be available for the Greatest Rivalry tour will be difficult to justify, as he’s been away from New Zealand for three seasons, hasn’t played 70 tests, which is the threshold to be granted a sabbatical option and the magic number that seems to open the suite of NZR perks, and the All Blacks have a depth of options at No 10 in Beauden Barrett, McKenzie and Ruben Love.
The counterargument would be that if he signs a three-year deal to come home and commits to being around for the 2027 World Cup and 2029 British and Irish Lions tour, what purpose does it serve by forcing him into serving a penance in the NPC until the end of 2026?
Why distinguish between him and those returning from sabbatical when the point is that all of them have made a long-term commitment to be in New Zealand?