The Star: July 16, 2020
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Following the Crusaders’<br />
thrilling clash with the<br />
Blues on Saturday night<br />
in Super Rugby Aotearoa,<br />
Gregor Paul analyses the<br />
Beauden Barrett v Richie<br />
Mo’unga All Blacks debate<br />
– and writes that the<br />
decision is obvious<br />
IT IS time for all of New Zealand<br />
to realise just how good Richie<br />
Mo’unga is. At the moment he’s<br />
the best first-five in the country<br />
and whether the All Blacks<br />
persist with their dual playmaker<br />
strategy or not, Mo’unga has to<br />
be wearing No 10.<br />
Beauden Barrett is the better<br />
rugby player – equipped with<br />
more skills and weapons to strike<br />
an effective attack, but Mo’unga<br />
is the better specialist No 10.<br />
If that wasn’t definitive coming<br />
into Super Rugby Aotearoa<br />
post lockdown, it is now after<br />
Mo’unga did the hardest thing in<br />
rugby by putting a forgettable 40<br />
minutes behind him against the<br />
Blues to somehow find a way to<br />
win his team the toughest contest<br />
they have had in years.<br />
No one should underestimate<br />
the resilience and mental capacity<br />
Mo’unga showed to glue himself<br />
together in Christchurch,<br />
patch up the psychological crack<br />
that was threatening to split him<br />
open and produce a brave, innovative<br />
and frankly brilliant final<br />
quarter to ensure the Crusaders<br />
stretched their unbeaten run at<br />
home to 36 games.<br />
Dan Carter is the greatest<br />
New Zealand has ever produced<br />
and while he had a vast range of<br />
skills, it was his composure and<br />
refusal to ever panic or doubt<br />
himself that set him apart.<br />
And Mo’unga seems to have<br />
that same gift: that same unflappable<br />
nature which doesn’t allow<br />
mistakes to eat him up or get<br />
inside his head.<br />
It’s a treasured skill to possess<br />
and so few have it naturally and<br />
not many learn to develop it<br />
either.<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Mo’unga v Barrett - who<br />
should be the All Blacks No 10<br />
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CAMARADERIE: Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett joke around following the round 5<br />
Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Crusaders and the Blues. PHOTO: GETTY<br />
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Plenty of young No 10s have<br />
made a few mistakes in big<br />
games and fallen apart. <strong>The</strong> first<br />
test Aaron Cruden started in<br />
2010 he kicked the ball out on<br />
the full, made a few more mistakes<br />
and was subbed long before<br />
the end and not then initially<br />
picked in the World Cup squad.<br />
Barrett also suffered a memorable<br />
meltdown in the 2015<br />
Super Rugby final, failing to<br />
deliver the sort of magic against<br />
the Highlanders which he had<br />
produced all year.<br />
His demons engulfed him in<br />
Wellington five years ago and<br />
that disappointment was the<br />
making of him as a world-class<br />
No 10.<br />
He returned in 20<strong>16</strong> mentally<br />
tougher and his performances<br />
in the three playoff games were<br />
tactically smart, technically<br />
immaculate and about the most<br />
composed, polished rugby he’s<br />
ever produced.<br />
Mo’unga has steered the Crusaders<br />
to three successive titles<br />
and played at a World Cup, making<br />
it seem a little strange to suggest<br />
that a mid-season encounter<br />
against the Blues is the moment<br />
he came of age.<br />
But never before has he so obviously<br />
found a way to respond<br />
and react so effectively under<br />
pressure. He won that game for<br />
the Crusaders and with it, they<br />
have just about secured the title.<br />
It was almost a final and for<br />
50 or so minutes, the Blues were<br />
threatening to win it. <strong>The</strong>y had<br />
Cantabrians have known<br />
for a few years now<br />
what a special talent the<br />
Crusaders No 10 is but the<br />
rest of the country hasn’t<br />
been quite as sure.<br />
the game where they wanted it<br />
after Rieko Ioane scored his try<br />
and the only hope the Crusaders<br />
had was if they could find a hero,<br />
a means by which someone could<br />
do something extraordinary and<br />
wrestle back the momentum.<br />
It was Mo’unga who stood<br />
up and did just that. And what<br />
made it so much braver was that<br />
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a few things in the first half had<br />
enormous potential to undermine<br />
his confidence and see him<br />
crawl into a conservative mindset<br />
and stop trusting himself to<br />
play his natural game.<br />
He kicked an easy penalty<br />
into the dead ball area,<br />
squandering a golden<br />
opportunity to set-up for a<br />
short-range lineout drive.<br />
Mo’unga kicked a couple<br />
of times when he had men<br />
screaming outside him to keep it<br />
in hand and there were two wild<br />
inside passes to no one.<br />
He looked like the occasion<br />
was getting to him. That the<br />
mistakes were compounding and<br />
eroding his confidence and then<br />
suddenly he took control, pulling<br />
off the nearly impossible act of<br />
retrieving his own short kick-off<br />
and then delaying beautifully his<br />
perfect pass to put Will Jordan<br />
over for the critical try.<br />
But he came of age on Saturday<br />
night and ended any lingering<br />
debate about who should be<br />
wearing the All Blacks No 10<br />
jersey this year. - NZ Herald<br />
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Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>16</strong> <strong>2020</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
SPORT 31<br />
Graham<br />
to hold<br />
court<br />
again<br />
• By David De Somma<br />
SIX YEARS on, and veteran<br />
harness racing trainer Graham<br />
Court is about to take over the top<br />
job at Harcourt Lodge, again.<br />
Now 70, Graham Court will<br />
become the stable’s official trainer<br />
when 40-year-old son Paul and<br />
his young family relocate to<br />
Canada next month.<br />
In 20<strong>16</strong> Paul Court took over<br />
from his father, after the pair had<br />
trained nearly 100 winners together<br />
(2009-2015). That included<br />
three consecutive New Zealand<br />
Cups with Terror to Love, the<br />
horse they’ll forever be associated<br />
with.<br />
This season Paul has trained<br />
27 winners, the latest being Stick<br />
Man at Addington on <strong>July</strong> 5.<br />
Said Paul: “It’s not been an<br />
easy decision. But we’re ready<br />
for something new… it’s time to<br />
put the family first and go from<br />
there.”<br />
He married Canadian-born<br />
Chantelle Swanson sight unseen<br />
in a “Three Strangers and a Wedding”<br />
radio promotion in 2007.<br />
Now they and their two children<br />
are heading back to her home<br />
country. It’s not the first time Paul<br />
Court has spent extended time<br />
there – though this time it seems<br />
it’s for keeps.<br />
On his own account Graham<br />
has trained 204 winners, his career<br />
starting in the late 1970s.<br />
“A lot of owners I’ve had for<br />
over 40 years and I’ve got some<br />
new ones with Paul and I’m not<br />
prepared to throw it all away. I’m<br />
just the boss again.”<br />
Court senior has always been<br />
hands-on.<br />
‘We are doing about 30 with<br />
about 15-20 yearlings to come<br />
back into work so there are plenty<br />
of numbers.” - Harness News Desk<br />
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