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Meet the man challenging rising All Blacks star Josh Ioane for the Highlanders' No. 10 jersey

(Photo by Teaukura Moetaua/Getty Images)

The man who consigned the Highlanders to one of the most painful losses in recent franchise history is now looking to cement himself as the club’s premier playmaker.

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After three title-winning campaigns with the Crusaders, Mitch Hunt has moved south in search of a more prominent on-field role after living in the shadow of All Blacks star Richie Mo’unga.

Mo’unga has been a key figure for the Christchurch side since debuting for the 10-time champions in 2016, guiding his hometown team to a hat-trick of titles over the last three seasons from first-five.

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His work was rewarded with a maiden All Blacks call-up at the end of 2017, and the 25-year-old has since gone on to dislodge Beauden Barrett as New Zealand’s top No. 10, with the two-time World Rugby player of the year instead deployed at fullback throughout last year’s World Cup in Japan.

Mo’unga’s success for club and country, though, stunted Hunt’s development at Super Rugby level, leaving the Nelson product with the difficult decision to pack his bags and relocate to Dunedin.

His transfer to the Highlanders is an interesting twist of fate, given that it was Hunt who slotted a phenomenal 83rd minute drop goal from 43m out to hand the Crusaders a dramatic 25-22 victory over their South Island rivals three years ago.

That win helped lay the platform for the Crusaders to go on to claim the first of their three successive championships, but a switch of allegiance means Highlanders fans will now have to put their faith in the player who is famous for breaking their hearts.

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Subsequently, Hunt was wary about a frosty reception surrounding his arrival at Forsyth Barr Stadium, but as the Highlanders come to terms with a mass exodus of established players following the World Cup, those fears have been quickly alleviated.

“I was pretty nervous coming down, how I was going to be received from a playing group, but because there’s so many fresh faces, I wasn’t the only one in that boat,” he told reporters on Monday.

“I’m just excited. There’s new combinations, new mates, it’s the works, so can’t wait to get stuck in.”

As a first-five, one of those new combinations will be with veteran All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith, who created a formidable halves partnership with incumbent Highlanders pivot Josh Ioane last season.

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In fact, the duo worked in tandem so well in Ioane’s breakthrough Super Rugby campaign that the 24-year-old was handed an All Blacks debut against Tonga in a World Cup warm-up clash last September.

Ioane’s exploits as an exciting ball-runner, good distributor and reliable goal-kicker has made him a fan favourite in Dunedin, but Hunt – whose move from Christchurch stemmed from a desire to earn substantial game time – appeared confident with the new dynamic he has built with Smith.

“It exciting, actually,” Hunt said.

“Obviously [I’ve] only had the last 10 days-ish working with him [Smith], but [we’re] already starting to build that wee combination there, and I look forward to it in a game sense to get out and actually play with him.”

That means the race to start in the Highlanders’ No. 10 jersey in their season-opener against the Sharks on Friday will be fiercely competitive.

However, if head coach Aaron Mauger’s pre-season selections are anything to go by, then it could well be Hunt who is handed the early playmaking duties.

The 24-year-old started at No. 10 in the Highlanders’ January fixtures against the Waratahs and Crusaders, with Ioane shifted to second-five and fullback in both matches to accommodate for Hunt.

It seems likely, then, that Mauger might opt for a dual playmaking system in the backline this weekend, which should relieve Hunt of any added pressure as a key shot-caller in what will be his franchise debut – should he be selected.

“[It’s] just having that knowledge out there on the field of vision and decision-making, getting that right communication,” Hunt said of the benefits of having two playmakers on the field at the same time.

“As a No. 10, if you’re getting told ‘in the corner’ [by Ioane], you don’t even have to look, you can just execute when you’re getting that sort of communication.

“We’ve had that chance to do it already and he’s been awesome, so [that’s] something to build on as well.”

The Highlanders will name their side to face the Sharks on Wednesday, before taking to the field for the first time in Super Rugby this year two days later.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

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