Warren Gatland yesterday named his Lions side to face Super Rugby outfit Crusaders on Saturday, as the group will look to respond from a disappointing loss to the Blues on Wednesday morning.
There will be four Irishmen in the starting lineup, with Tadhg Furlong, Pete O'Mahony, Sean O'Brien, and Conor Murray selected as Gatland shuffles his deck. There's a change at outhalf too, as Johnny Sexton makes way for Owen Farrell, but over in New Zealand, there's a lot of talk about the Englishman's opposite number heading into the weekend.
23-year-old Richie Mo'unga was handed the unenviable task of taking over from Dan Carter as Crusaders' 10 in 2016 and has been doing so well that it is a matter of when, and not if, he gets his first cap for the All Blacks.
Ahead of the Lions' clash in Christchurch, Leon MacDonald, a former All Black and now skills coach with Crusaders, went as far as to draw similarities between Mo'unga and the legend he succeeded.
There is a lot of Dan Carter about Richie Mo'unga.
Very rarely do you see him rattled at all, at any level. He is pretty casual, enjoys a laugh and is a bit of a joker. And I think you need that temperament as a No 10 because there is a lot of pressure.
I don't want to put pressure on Richie and say there is a Dan Carter performance [like the 2nd test of the 2005 series] brewing tomorrow, but there are similarities to his game.
That is dangerously high praise, but Mo'unga's performances in Super Rugby at such a young age have turned a few heads.
We'll get a good look at what he can do on Saturday, but for now, have a look at a supercut of some of his highlights if you were not already familiar.
No pressure.
[via stuff.co.nz]
