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Damian McKenzie reflects on key performance as All Blacks stun Ireland

Damian McKenzie of New Zealand is tackled by Andrew Porter of Ireland during the Autumn Nations Series match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Player of the Match Damian McKenzie acknowledged he “probably needed” a performance like that after being handed another shot in the No. 10 jersey. McKenzie led the way with an 18-point haul as the All Blacks stunned Ireland 23-13 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

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With Beauden Barrett unavailable for the blockbuster Autumn Nations Series showdown, McKenzie was handed the reins as the All Blacks’ chief playmaker once again. The 29-year-old is no stranger to that jersey, having started the first eight Tests of the year in that role.

But with Barrett getting the nod to start in the second Bledisloe Cup Test at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, and again against England at Allianz Stadium last weekend, it seemed clear-cut that McKenzie had fallen down the depth chart as New Zealand’s second-choice option.

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With Barrett out this week, coach Scott Robertson recalled McKenzie into the First XV for one of the team’s biggest Test matches of the year, with the All Blacks looking to beat Ireland in Dublin for the first time in eight years. The first five-eighth proved to be a difference-maker for the All Blacks.

McKenzie was all class as the All Blacks flexed their muscles to stun the team that had been ranked No. 1 in the world going into the Test. Following the 10-point victory, McKenzie was humble but also spoke about the importance of having a strong individual performance.

“It’s a little bit wet underfoot, gotta be pretty smart around our gameplan,” McKenzie said post-match on the broadcast.

“My mindset coming into this week was making the forwards’ job as easy as possible so putting the ball in front of them through our kicking game, trying to control it – I think we did that well in periods.

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“Just really proud of the performance from everyone in our team.

“Yeah, probably needed to, and tonight was a great night to try and do that.

Match Summary

2
Penalty Goals
6
1
Tries
1
1
Conversions
0
0
Drop Goals
0
85
Carries
118
1
Line Breaks
9
13
Turnovers Lost
12
6
Turnovers Won
6

“I was able to work on a great platform that our forwards set; makes my job a whole lot easier. We’ve got some exciting backs who also make my job easier.

“Full credit to those boys, they make our jobs as 10s as easy as possible.”

With McKenzie leading the way, the All Blacks took a hard-fought 9-3 lead late in the first term. Jack Crowley had opened the scoring for the Irish in the seventh minute in the penalty goal, but McKenzie was accurate off the kicking tee with three attempts that followed.

While the visitors appeared to have some sense of control, a yellow card to midfielder Jordie Barrett proved to be a turning point. Crowley kicked his second penalty in the 39th minute, and Josh van der Flier scored just after the break with the All Blacks still down to 14 men.

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But, that red-hot start for the Irish during the second half was as good as it got in terms of points. They wouldn’t score in the remaining 37 minutes, while the All Blacks piled on the points with McKenzie converting another three penalty shots at goal.

The icing on the cake was a pivotal try to fullback Will Jordan, who has scored in all five Tests that he’s played against the Irish. Ireland looked to put some pressure on in the 10 minutes or so that followed, but New Zealand’s wall-like defence remained strong.

“Extremely tough. The Irish are a great side,” McKenzie reflected.

“We knew coming here that it was going to be a tough match, down to the wire.

“I’m just really proud of the boys’ efforts, particularly our forward pack (who) really muscled up, and then our backs were able to build pressure through our kicking game.

“It’s never here to win here at the Aviva so we’re very happy.

“Test matches like that are won in small moments and I think we capitalised on a few great small moments, built some great pressure, managed to get a few penalties and score some points.

“We’re over the moon with that one.”

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Comments

26 Comments
J
JW 12 days ago

Think the French will give them a wake up call next week if they're happy with that one.


Dissapointed it wasn't a performance similar to the Argentina game in the wet. Cop out to blame with weather on that performance but hopefully the recognition that theres nothing wrong with Dmacs tactical kicking game (for the most part) gives him the confidence to improve it further.

C
Chiefs Mana 12 days ago

Has he slept with a family member of yours?


Unwarranted criticism today.

J
Jmann 12 days ago

'stunned'? - Ireland have the ABs living rent free in their heads.

A
Andrew Nichols 12 days ago

The decision to have a player come off the bench rather than start is no longer a demotion. It needs to be recognised as modern tactics.

B
Bull Shark 12 days ago

Agreed. It’s a game of 23 players.

R
Rob 12 days ago

Fair play NZ, we were well off the mark hopefully this sets the gears in motion for some major change in this Irish team, needed impact in the second have and Herring Healy Henderson POM and Murray don’t bring it. If we persist with these selections it’ll be hard to defend Farrell, he needs to recognise the youth are ready they might not be as good as some of these guys were in their peak but they’re well passed it now. I’m willing to give them until the next autumn series but if guys like Healy and POM are still on the bench for the big six nations games we’re in serious trouble.


Well played again NZ please don’t lose the run of yourselves too much.

J
JW 12 days ago

It's more a worry how Farrell has the team playing isn't it? Why did they stop using all their moves, has say every nation started defending them the way NZ did in the quarter?


I haven't been watching them but should Leo Cullen take over and re-install the sideways attack or are those days done forever (I though Hansen really stepped up their in the second half and brought that old precision back)?


As good a time as any to move on but I thought POM played really well in his comeback last week. I think perhaps Faz should have rewarded match fitness more, that was ABs/Razors mistake early in the season (last season for you).

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 12 days ago

We certainly can’t be crowing.

Ireland played like it was the first game of the season. We all know they are far better than that rubbish.

If these two teams had played each other back in July the ABs would have been utterly annihilated.

Both teams are at different stages, so it’s not a true reflection of Irelands capability.

Wins a win though to be fair.

A
Andrew Nichols 12 days ago

Well played again NZ please don’t lose the run of yourselves too much.??

C
Chiefs Mana 12 days ago

Happy with the win…felt like a bit of sentiment giving POM game time?


Uncharacteristic mistakes from Ireland with some very dubious breakdown work. Benefit of the doubt it wasn’t a game plan.


ABs will be very happy with their performance.

J
JD Kiwi 12 days ago

He always just needed time. Pared back his game and controlled it.

J
JW 12 days ago

I saw no difference, still the same amount and quality of kicking 1:6 ratio.

H
Head high tackle 12 days ago

that 1st half was crazy. Ireland were so offside they were tackling our 9 from the ABs side of the ball.

J
Jen 12 days ago

He's a great player. I hope all the naysayers continue to have to eat their words.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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