Richie Mo'unga will pull on an All Blacks tracksuit for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final this weekend, and Dave Rennie has been careful to say exactly what that does and does not mean.
The 56-Test fly-half was called into New Zealand's touring squad in South Africa on Thursday as injury cover for Billy Proctor, whose fractured shoulder blade against the Stormers ended his Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour. Mo'unga flies out on Friday, too late to feature against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
"We really feel for Billy. He has had a great season so this is frustrating for him. It is the harsh reality of our game," Rennie said. "Richie is the obvious choice as a replacement. His job now is to get in and learn our systems, get his head around the detail and earn the right to play."
That last phrase has done a lot of work this week. Mo'unga arrives into a squad that already carries Ruben Love, Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie and the uncapped Josh Jacomb - four playmakers for one jersey, before he makes it five.
Rennie was blunt about the timeline when asked whether Mo'unga would go straight into the first Test at Ellis Park on 22 August.
"He's a very good player. I'm not sure when he'll play Test footy for us but coming in now and spending time in the environment will accelerate that opportunity," the coach said.
The most likely first outing is the midweek fixture against the Lions in Johannesburg, three days after the opening Test.
"We have enough cover in the midfield, although we picked Rico as a winger he can still cover at centre," Rennie said. "As for Richie, he is a player that is good enough to apply pressure for selection at some stage - maybe against the Lions."
Rennie's argument for bringing him now, rather than later, is about immersion rather than immediate selection.
"By the time Richie arrives, the first three provincial games are gone [...] him coming in and immersing himself, getting his head around our structures and the detail within that, would be really beneficial."
Mo'unga, for his part, has not arrived expecting anything. The 32-year-old only became selectable at all by completing a domestic campaign with Canterbury under New Zealand Rugby's returning-player criteria, and he was due to start for them this weekend before the call came.
"We'll see, and to be honest, I'm going over ready to play a role, whatever that role is, that might be not even playing footy and I'm happy with that. Happy to be going over, but there's a lot of work to be done, a lot of trust to be earnt," he told Newstalk ZB.
He said the call arrived the same morning, in the middle of a Ranfurly Shield defence.
"To be honest, I hadn't put too much thought into it. I've had a lot going on, we played for the [Ranfurly] Shield on Sunday and we had a tough game this weekend for our shield defence," Mo'unga said. "I knew there was always conversations and would have been close but I just had my head down and was getting into some work, so I knew if the call would come I would be ready, which I am."
Not everyone thinks the jersey is his to take back. Dan Carter, assessing the All Blacks' fly-half situation earlier this year, put Love at the front of the queue and declined to anoint Mo'unga as the long-term answer - a view that has aged well given Love started all three Nations Championship Tests and controlled the 54-0 win over the Sharks in Durban.
Todd Blackadder, who coached Mo'unga at both the Crusaders and Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, argued before the call-up that another No.10 solved nothing, because none of them cover Proctor's actual position at 13.
One variable may yet decide it. McKenzie missed the Bulls match with an ankle problem picked up against the Sharks, though Rennie played it down.
"He was running around, we had it strapped, but it was a little bit ginger. We decided to play it safe. He's not too bad. We'd expect him to be fine for the first Test," Rennie said.
Rennie has treated the provincial fixtures as an open audition, and says the Bulls game genuinely matters to his thinking.
"It's good competition. That's what we're looking for [...] There's a number of spots where performances this weekend could tilt our thinking."
Mo'unga's last act in black was the 2023 final defeat to South Africa. His next, if it comes, will be against the same opponent.
