NPC: Mo'unga scores match-winning try for Canterbury against Auckland

<p>Richie Mo'unga has scored the winning try for Canterbury in his first NPC match since 2020, with the defending champions beating Auckland 38-31.</p> <p>Mo'unga, who has spent the last three years playing in Japan, came on as a replacement in the second half last night, and while he had a few awkward moments, he turned on the class to split the Auckland defence in the 78th minute, when the scores were deadlocked.</p> <p><b>TVNZ will broadcast all NPC matches </b><a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/sport" target="_blank"><b>live and free on TVNZ+</b></a><b>, with three games broadcast on TVNZ 1 – a flagship Saturday primetime match at 7pm, alongside Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm.</b></p> <p>The first half was helter-skelter, with Canterbury starting off where they left off last season, with early dominance at the breakdown seeing them score two tries in the first 11 minutes.</p> <p>But Auckland stormed back when the red-and-blacks made a couple of errors, leaving a hole in their lineout for Sam Hainsworth-Fa'aofo to score and then gifting an intercept to Xavier Tito-Harris.</p> <p>Canterbury then scored two more tries, but Auckland claimed one back to trail 26-21 at halftime.</p> <p>There was a big cheer when Mo'unga took the field but he looked a bit rusty early, knocking forward a ball that bounced just in front of him and then missing a conversion he normally would have nailed.</p> <p>Auckland had taken the lead for the first time in the 60th minute, but Canterbury hit back seven minutes later.</p> <p>It was 31-all with 12 minutes to go and stayed that way, until Canterbury's forwards charged towards the Auckland line from a lineout after winning a penalty and Mo'unga got his hands on the ball playing halfback, fooling the defence with a dummy and scoring by the posts. He then converted it.</p> <p>In earlier games today, Otago beat Southland 41-14, and Taranaki beat Counties Manukau 20 points to five.</p> <p>On Friday night, Tasman pipped North Harbour 31-29 in Nelson, while Waikato opened the season with a 38-26 win over Bay of Plenty on Thursday.</p> <p><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/855915/npc-mo-unga-scores-match-winning-try-for-canterbury-against-auckland" target="_blank"><b>rnz.co.nz</b></a></p>