All Black Richie Mo’unga is declared available for the Rugby Championship

Ink Richie Mo’unga on Ian Foster’s All Blacks team for the Rugby Championship in Australia later this year.

The All Blacks pivot declared himself available for the tournament, rejecting a report Monday that suggested he was one of the few players who would not be in charge.

“I had conversations with my wife [Sophie] and family that I am lucky to have had a month with my baby [Billie]He turned four weeks on Sunday, ”Mo’unga said.

“But I realize that I am a soccer player and I have a duty, and that is to play for Canterbury and hopefully for the All Blacks.”

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His comments followed Foster’s earlier in the day, when he dismissed the aforementioned report of a player revolt due to the amount of time players should be away from home.

The Rugby Championship was set up between November 7 and December 12, but plans are underway to conclude it between December 5 and 6, which means that players will not have to quarantine themselves over Christmas.

New parents Mo’unga and TJ Perenara, and Beauden Barrett, who is expected to become a father shortly, were reportedly unavailable.

“It was actually quite ridiculous. It was the first time I heard from him, ”Mo’unga said in Christchurch on Tuesday afternoon.

“As players, we are responsible for what we do outside of football or on the field, I think reporters who invent speculation like that should be too.”

He stressed that he was only speaking for himself, not for Barrett or Perenara, and anyone choosing not to be available should be respected.

Foster said he had not spoken to the 35 players when he addressed the media Tuesday morning, but Mo’unga confirmed that he had made their availability known to him.

“For me, I had the opportunity to be at home with my baby for the last two weeks and I was able to be there for his birth, and that is something that I would not miss for the world.

“But we are soccer players, we play rugby. Obviously we are also parents, but we have to do everything possible to put food on the tables for our families ”.

Mo’unga is expected to start in the first five eighths, versus Barrett, on Saturday afternoon when Canterbury played the Ranfurly Shield against Taranaki in Christchurch.

It will mark the second head-to-head meeting this year, after the North vs. South match, won by the South, earlier this month.

Mo’unga said there had been no pregame talk with Barrett and his brother Jordie, a former Canterbury teammate, other than discussing the “rumors that emerged yesterday.”

The 26-year-old was not overly intimidated by the prospect of being away from home for nine weeks, noting that they were away for about seven weeks for the World Cup last year, and year-end tours generally lasted a few. five weeks.

As a member of the Crusaders, he did not tour South Africa this year as Covid-19 struck before his scheduled trip, and he stayed home when they played the Sunwolves in Brisbane in March.

“It will definitely be difficult. You’d have to be a robot if it’s not going to be difficult for you when you’re away for that amount of time, ”Mo’unga said.

“For me, before Billie came along, rugby was number one and it is still number one, but now I have a little girl with me.

“The priorities are cut and changed throughout the week. On my day off tomorrow, I’ll be with Billie all day and make the most of that, and I know that on Thursday when I come here I have to roll up my sleeves and get to work. “