They have played together for the All Blacks and Crusaders but Kieran Read and Richie Mo'unga met in rather unusual circumstances.
In his autobiography, Kieran Read - Straight 8, Read has revealed his first encounter with Mo'unga came when he put the first-five in a headlock at a wedding.
"It was not one of my finest moments," he conceded.
Read said Mo'unga, who was only a Crusaders academy prospect at the time, was sent in to break up a "WWE-style" wrestling match between himself and Andy Ellis, which erupted at Owen Franks' wedding reception in 2014.
"He decided it would be a good idea to wrestle me at the reception," Read said. "Being two competitors this soon descended into an all-out WWE-style wrestling match during which we tried to choke each other out.
"We soon spilled out of the reception and onto the front lawn where the fracas continued much to the annoyance of our respective wives and the mother of the bride.
"Richie was duly sent out to split us up (Andy and I would never have conceded) and it was at this point that I turned on him, put him in a headlock and left him momentarily unconscious."
But Read, who had been drinking whiskey, said he had no recollection of the physical interaction between him and his future team-mate, which made for an awkward introduction at Crusaders training the following week.
"I had never met him before so extended my hand and introduced myself.
"Richie shook my hand, had a brief conversation and wandered off. It was only then that Andy, by this stage on the floor laughing, told me what I had done to the poor kid over the weekend.
"I don't know how many players started their career by being strangled by their captain, but Richie is one of them."
[Source: Stuff.co]
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