The combined Australia-New Zealand XV side to face the British and Irish Lions next month have suffered a blow after it was revealed that All Blacks star Richie Mo’unga will miss that clash due to injury.
The 31-year-old was keen to play in this eagerly anticipated encounter which is scheduled to take place at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday, July 12.
Sidelined with broken hand
However, according to a Sydney Morning Herald report, Mo’unga’s agent Cameron McIntyre confirmed that the player sustained a broken hand while playing for Japanese club Toshiba Brave Lupus and has withdrawn from talks with Rugby Australia about playing in the Australia-New Zealand XV v Lions match.
Mo’unga had mentioned in the past that he missed Test rugby and said he wished to play in the fixture after speaking to ex-All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, who will be one of the Australia-New Zealand XV’s assistant coaches.
“I miss the big Test match setting, the big arenas, this (AUNZ game) will be the closest I’ll get to it while I’m in Japan,” Mo’unga previously told rugbyjp.com.
Mo’unga’s injury setback follows news of former Wallabies openside flanker and captain Michael Hooper’s revelation that he had rejected an invitation to represent the Australia-New Zealand XV in next month’s fixture.
“I would have loved to have seen it be an Australian New Zealand Barbarians team…the trouble is trying to make it all work,” Hooper told Stan Sport’s Inside Line show.
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“I mentioned around the length and the layover between games for some people, some guys are coming to the back end of the season.
‘It’s going to be a daunting task’
“Maybe they don’t want to keep training for another eight weeks because it’s going to be a daunting task (to face the Lions).”
Meanwhile, despite Mo’unga’s absence, future Wallabies boss Les Kiss, who will be the Australia-New Zealand XV’s head coach, is confident that there will be a strong New Zealand contingent in his side’s ranks when they take on the Lions.
“I’d imagine anywhere from six to 10 New Zealanders at least and the rest will be open,” he said on Stan Sport’s Inside Line show.
“There’s talk about probably making sure we have enough avenue for Wallabies players to have access to that game, particularly as it’s the last major match before the Test series starts.
“No doubt there’s going to be some moves in that area to get some players in there, to be able to give them more game time, and [give] Joe [Schmidt] and the coaching team at the Wallabies more insight to what they’re looking at in terms of their players.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/richie-mounga-denied-british-and-irish-lions-opportunity-in-a-hammer-blow-to-australia-new-zealand-xv
