Richie Mo’unga won the contest with fellow All Blacks ace Beauden Barrett in the North v South match, dredged from history to become a centrepiece in New Zealand’s pandemic-affected rugby season.

Mo’unga created a try for winger Will Jordan after the full-time siren to give the South a 38-35 win over Barrett’s North in a match between teams made up almost entirely of All Blacks.

The match, which saw 10 tries and seven lead changes, served as a final chance for new head coach Ian Foster to assess form before he names his first New Zealand squad on Sunday.

Mo’unga has been the form five-eighth in domestic rugby, steering the Crusaders to the Super Rugby Aotearoa title.

Barrett played much of the New Zealand Super Rugby at fullback after transferring from the Hurricanes to the Blues and his form remains a beat behind that of Mo’unga.

Other standouts were Jordan, who came off the bench to score twice, uncapped Blues back-rower Hoskins Sotutu, North fullback Damian McKenzie, veteran lock Sam Whitelock, who captained the South, and the North’s Rieko Ioane.

The match was first scheduled for last weekend but was postponed by a week and moved from Auckland to Wellington because a COVID-19 outbreak in New Zealand’s largest city meant large sports events could not take place.

Wellington, along with the rest of New Zealand, is subject to less stringent restrictions, though the match was played without fans.

The North vs. South match was a major fixture in New Zealand rugby during the amateur era, first contested in 1897 and then for almost a century afterwards.

But it was shouldered aside with the advent of professionalism, lost in a packed calendar though it was revived once before, in 2012.

The winner received the Loving Cup until 1932 when the trophy was lost after being awarded to the North.

After 88 years, the Cup was rediscovered in a basement at Auckland’s Eden Park in time to be presented to this year’s winner.

The match may be remembered as a prelude to an international season that doesn’t take place.

The four-nation Rugby Championship is unlikely to go ahead because of logistics around quarantine and a recent outbreak of COVID-10 among the Argentina team.

A Bledisloe Cup series between New Zealand and Australia is also yet to be confirmed.