The Breakdown hosts try to figure out the greatest Super Rugby player of all time.
Video / Sky Sport
OPINION
When a 27-year-old with 21 test caps can widely be considered the greatest Super Rugby player of all time, it is time to ask a few questions.
Where to start? Probably, best, to focus first on the legitimacy of the growing view – endorsed by former All Blacks JeffWilson and Mils Muliaina - that Richie Mo'unga, having steered the Crusaders to five consecutive titles, is now the greatest Super Rugby player of all time.
It's arguably a premature declaration. Mo'unga is a relative baby in an age when an increasing number of players are still playing at the top level well into their late 30s.
Most likely, he's got another level in him – a period to come when his experience and game management will sit close to their zenith, while his speed, agility and athleticism will equally be at peak flow and the combination will drive him to new heights.
But he's been such a phenomenal director for the Crusaders No 10 jersey since 2017 that maybe he's done enough to satisfy the claim he's already wielded the greatest influence in the history of the competition.
Super Rugby has been the bedrock from which many of the greatest All Blacks careers in history have been launched and yet, looking back and thinking about who did what and when and who really dominated, there's no colossus to which history can point.
Not, at least, in regard to what they achieved in Super Rugby. It's universally accepted, almost beyond any rational discussion, that Richie McCaw and Dan Carter are the two greatest players New Zealand has known and yet neither of them produced anywhere near the same volume of unforgettable rugby for the Crusaders as they did the All Blacks.
The same argument can be made about other genuine greats of recent times. Ma'a Nonu was a Super Rugby nomad for five years, flitting between teams and barely registering his presence, but was the greatest second-five in All Blacks history.
Kieran Read, Tony Woodcock and Keven Mealamu would rank as other legends whose Super Rugby footprint was considerably lighter than the one which they made in test football.
And this is where the distinction between great player and great Super Rugby influencer has to be made in relation to Mo'unga.
While he may already be the most influential player Super Rugby has seen, there's no justification yet to consider him a great player per se.
What sits at the heart of this question about Mo'unga, is what defines greatness and the evidence overwhelmingly points to being able to produce sustained excellence in the test arena over a period of at least 10 years.
Super Rugby is fast and furious, it's demanding and draining, but it doesn't remotely make the same physical and mental demands of players as test rugby.
The pressure, expectation, intensity and global scrutiny of being an All Black are significantly higher than being a key player in a Super Rugby team and it is almost unimaginable what it takes to hold a place in an international side for a decade.
Longevity can't be fluked or faked. No one can survive for long in the All Blacks on a selectorial whim or on the basis that they happened to be around for a prolonged time when there was no real competition for their jersey.
David Havili of the Crusaders (R) is congratulated by Richie Mo'unga of the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images.
New Zealand spits out test-able players at an incredible rate and how many hopeful opensides tried and failed to budge McCaw out of his No 7 jersey?
How many rival first-fives went through the system while Carter was around, unable to get the game time they wanted because the great man never let his standards slip?
What's also inherent in any long career is the ability to adapt and evolve. That's a key feature in greatness – finding a way to stay relevant in an ever-changing game; finding a way to overcome the inevitable physical changes that come with age and injuries.
And one other key facet of greatness is to play without any overt weakness or flaw that can be exploited.
Mo'unga does not yet meet the threshold for greatness. Super Rugby supremacy, yes; greatness, no.
His international portfolio is mixed and at 21 caps, nowhere near long enough to be talking about greatness.
He's undoubtedly equipped to get to the Pantheon, but it's going to require him to show this year, and beyond, that he can dominate tests against sides who play grinding set-piece rugby.
He's going to have to deliver the same game-turning, pressure-induced moments of brilliance for the All Blacks as he does the Crusaders.
He's going to have to prove he can be effective behind a non-dominant pack and bring greater consistency to his defensive work.
If he can do all that for the All Blacks over the next six years, then he will have earned the right to be considered a great player, not just a great Super Rugby player.
