'We've done our homework': Stick unpacks Mo'unga's threat to Boks
INTERVIEW: Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick unpacked the threat Richie Mo’unga will pose in a new-look All Blacks side for the Greatest Rivalry series-decider in Baltimore.
Mo’unga will start his first Test in nearly three years, with his last being in the 2023 World Cup Final, which the All Blacks lost 11-12 in Paris.
The mercurial playmaker showed glimpses of his skill against the Sharks during the first half of the series, where the All Blacks comfortably won by 54-0 in Durban.
Eyebrows were raised when Mo’unga was named as a starter in the fourth Test, with Ruben Love missing out entirely in the matchday squad as Beauden Barrett was named as a replacement on the bench.
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One person who wasn’t surprised by the No.10’s selection is Stick and the rest of the Bok coaching staff.
Stick spoke about what Mo’unga will bring to the All Blacks this weekend and how the Boks plan to deal with his threats.
“We know Richie Mo’unga is world-class. As the coaching staff, we expected that selection. Even Ruben Love, the way he’s been playing as an upcoming star, he’s been great for the All Blacks.
“They will be even more bold tomorrow when it comes to keeping the ball alive and trying to use the space in the wider channels, and we know how dangerous he [Mo’unga] is.
“We’ve played against him many times, and we’ve done our homework. The key thing for us is that we enforce our game onto them and ensure that we pitch up physically on the day.
“We’ve seen in the past three games that if you’re not at your best, they’ve got what it takes to punish you because of the quality of players in their team.
“If you look at the outside centre position, they have a guy like Anton Leinert-Brown with his experience.
“It is a world-class team; we know they’re desperate to level the series, but in the same breath we want to make sure that we keep on making our people back at home proud, so we’ll give our best.”
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Captain Siya Kolisi added that the inclusion of Mo’unga and several other players forced the Boks to study what they can bring and what the Boks’ mindset is heading into this clash.
“We know what’s coming; the All Blacks are coming [for us], and it’s been a tough three games so far; it’s been really hard.
“We definitely want to win the series. It’s a new team that they [New Zealand] have, so that’s also good for us in terms of us having to prepare and look at new players because we know they will bring something different.
“We would definitely love to win this series; we don’t want to draw it, that’s our mindset this week.”
Stick echoed Kolisi’s sentiments regarding the series and how the team felt regarding playing four Test matches in a row against the same opposition.
“In my experience, it doesn’t get tougher than this; it’s like playing four World Cup finals in four weeks,” Stick said.
“We’ve seen the games we played so far were close games; both teams are trying to enforce their style of play.
“You can see the All Blacks don’t play hide and seek in terms of how they want to play. That’s something I enjoy.
“We might be leading [the series] 2-1, but we know on the flipside they are desperate to level it. We just want to ensure we finish properly tomorrow [Saturday].”
