It's time to stop hating on Damian McKenzie, the best 10 in the Championship

After the first Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney the unsettling wave of criticism grew louder for All Blacks first five-eighth Damian McKenzie after a host of missed opportunities.

The No 10 had up to three try scoring opportunities go awry. One from his own line break in the first half, a second from backing up inside Sevu Reece where he threw the flick pass attempt, and a third went begging with a forward pass offload that ended with Cortez Ratima crashing over.

McKenzie is a risk-taker, a gambler, and not your cookie cutter game manager in the mould of Harry Plummer.

He’s also a phenomenal attacking talent, one that the New Zealand public can’t forget so quickly.

While the calls grow louder to give up on McKenzie for a safer option, the inconvenient truth is he has been one of the All Blacks’ best players this season.

In the July series against England McKenzie delivered way above expectations, despite the clock mishap in the first Test.

Often criticised for wild decision-making and flinging high risk passes, under the storm of the English rush defence McKenzie routinely unlocked the outside space.

He put the ball on the money to Sevu Reece with a cross-field kick for the opening try. He had two more clean line break assists in the first half.

He cleaned up every kick into the backfield and diffused every high ball his way. He made every tackle asked of him. There were no handling errors or poor turnovers. In a game decided by one point, he had one try assist and kicked two second half penalties to overcome a 10-15 deficit.

In the second Test win at Eden Park, McKenzie was a match-winner. Without him, they simply don’t win the game. He created enough chances for the All Blacks to be up 21-7 in the first half.

His first piece of genius was a dink chip kick in behind that he regathered and found Jordie Barrett on the burst. Codie Taylor was put in the clear but was gunned down from behind, with Sevu Reece outside him.

The next was sparking a long counter-attack after fielding a long Marcus Smith kick. He split Maro Itoje and Ben Earl, breaking through the line, then put Mark Tele’a away.

Fullback Stephen Perofeta, with two men inside him, opted to pass back outside to Tele’a and the pair butchered one of the easiest finishes you will be given at Test level.

Both try scoring opportunities were sparked by McKenzie. He was just about the only player across the two Tests to cause issues for England’s defence.

Beauden Barrett was praised for his supersub performance in the second half to lift the All Blacks, but it was also McKenzie who put Barrett into space with a line break assist leading to Tele’a’s second try. The next three points came after another McKenzie pass put Sevu Reece through the line for another line break.

Again, it wasn’t just only the positive attacking plays, it was the absence of any bonehead errors and costly mistakes.

The All Blacks try of the season, scored by Sam Darry in Wellington against Argentina, came after another break sparked by McKenzie again chipping the line and regathering possession. He linked with Beauden Barrett who sent the ball infield with a big banana, and Darry scooped up the loose ball and dived over.

When the All Blacks took a 20-8 lead in that game, it was because McKenzie had put Lienert-Brown over with a try assist, a face ball across two Argentinian defenders onto the back shoulder where it needed to be.

His lone turnover was a costly forward pass to Will Jordan on a line break that led to a would-be game-sealing try to McKenzie himself, while the play many will remember cannot be solely blamed on the first five.

No one talks about Ardie Savea playing halfback and passing the ball over McKenzie’s head. Both Barrett brothers watched on as McKenzie’s pass split them, costing a five metre scrum and the eventual lead.

Bouncing back from defeat in Wellington, the All Blacks put on a first half clinic at Eden Park to dispatch the Pumas 36-3 by half-time.

McKenzie scored the first try chasing a chip from Jordie Barrett. He was involved in Caleb Clarke’s try with the second-to-last pass to put Ardie Savea into space out wide, he then put Beauden Barrett through the line for a try assist.

In South Africa McKenzie again made plays that just weren’t finished. In the fifth minute at Ellis Park he got between Ben Jason-Dixon and Damian de Allende, flicking a back hand offload to Barrett at pace.

Another genius offload by Barrett gave the All Blacks the chance to score but Ethan Blackadder butchered it by not giving the last pass.

On Caleb Clarke’s first try, a double pump by McKenzie beat Jesse Kriel and kept the ball swinging wide after the Boks’ turnover. On Clarke’s second try he put a long ball perfectly on the chest of Barrett who finished with the final pass.

McKenzie wasn’t responsible for momentum swings against the All Blacks. Barrett kicked out on the full twice and had another kicking blunder on half-time kicking directly out with time still on the clock. Multiple possessions were turned over at the breakdown.

The final quarter fade featured a number of poor plays by many, but not McKenzie.

In Cape Town he was asked to kick penalties from long range, perhaps outside his known distance, leading to key misses. Just one of the three misses was an “expected” make.

In Sydney, McKenzie carved up the Wallabies without having the polish to finish. What most will fail to recognise is that with a Harry Plummer-type No 10, two of those three missed opportunities don’t even eventuate.

Plummer is not an avid line breaker with the speed and evasiveness of McKenzie. He perhaps would have only finished the second break, backing up inside and giving a more accurate pass inside to Tamaiti Williams.

Off the bench in Wellington for the second Bledisloe McKenzie delivered a lively cameo. He was electric with every touch, skinning the Wallabies down the left touchline with a try assist for Caleb Clarke after flying into the line.

The bottom line is no player in world rugby has created as many line breaks as McKenzie has this year. He’s top of the list, while also delivering try assist after try assist.

McKenzie has a reputation as being a cowboy playmaker with rocks and diamonds plays. That reputation follows him around to his detriment, regardless of what is actually happening on the field.

This year with the All Blacks his error rate with ball-in-hand has been extremely low, he’s executed to a high level across all of the Tests providing a steady hand as a game driver. Anyone who can’t see that he’s been the All Blacks’ best attacker player this year doesn’t understand what is going on.

No other No 10 in the Rugby Championship has more attacking production than him, yet players like Tomas Albonoroz and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are being talked up as “better”.

Albonoroz had one breakout game while Feinberg-Mngomezulu, benefitting from the shiny new object syndrome, bombed tries in Perth and at the end of the Cape Town Test. The young No 10 has far more turnovers (eight in four games) and just one try assist. Not to mention he cost South Africa the Ireland series.

He’s young, exciting, and full of upside but don’t get it twisted. The All Blacks actually need McKenzie to produce, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu can take a backseat behind a dominant pack, who then cover his backside when he makes errors.

Damian McKenzie was the best No 10 in the Rugby Championship without a shadow of a doubt.