Richie Mo'unga feels he's done all he can for All Blacks call up

PHOTOSPORT

Richie Mo'unga says he's feeling fresh at this point of the season.

Crusaders first-five Richie Mo'unga says he's done all he can to make the All Blacks and now just as to wait.

After another impressive performance in the 32-24 win over the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday night, all the 23-year-old can do now is sit back to see if his name will be read out at the All Blacks squad announcement on Sunday morning.

He feels he's given it his best shot and just hopes it was enough.

"It's one of those things that you've got to let happen now," Mo'unga said.

"I've tried to do everything I can as a player and everything that's in my control, I've tried to control.

"So it's out of my hands now and whatever happens now, happens.

"That's footy and whatever the next step for me is, I'll be ready to take it, no matter what it looks like."

Mo'unga played against New Zealand, for the Barbarians late last year and was on the bench for the All Blacks in their midweek fixture against a France XV team on that same trip up north.

So the next step for him is selection to make his test debut for the national team in the upcoming series against France and his Crusaders coach, Scott Robertson believes he should make it into the All Blacks.

"He played like one tonight, didn't he?" Robertson said. 

"I expect it, there are 2-3 good first fives around and he's one of them."

Mo'unga has been impressive recently and in an odd way that's been helped by busting his jaw against the Rebels in March, which resulted in him having an operation to have plates inserted into both jaws.

He wasn't back playing again until early this month, but feels the time off helped him get refreshed for this part of the season.

"Obviously, I was out for a while with the jaw injury," he said. 

"So we're into a part of the season where the boys are a bit fatigued and bodies are sore.

"But for myself, I'm feeling fresh, I'm bringing a new bit of energy, a new perspective to the team which is good for me and it's challenging for my role in the team.

"But I'm loving it, it's exciting times and obviously there are a lot more big games coming up."

As for the win over the Blues, Mo'unga feels it's still special to beat their long time rivals, even if the Blues have been doing it tough for a few years. 

"It was an awesome derby game, which I'm sure would have been great to watch," he said.

"It's as big as it was back then. The hype is probably not like what it used to be, but these are the games we want to play and it tests our character.

"It's a pleasure to be a part of these games and when I was little, these were the ones I enjoyed watching and as a player I look forward to playing."

Mo'unga felt he did score the try late in the game, which was surprisingly ruled out for a knock on, but wasn't too despondent about it not being awarded as it didn't effect the result.

"It was almost like a test match out there, where you had to take control," he said.

"I thought we did that in parts and put pressure on them. 

"But as soon as you let the game get unstructured, that's the Blues game and they like to rip teams apart with their running ability."