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McKenzie's challenge a welcomed reignition of the All Black No 10 debate

Photo: Dan Peled / www.photosport.nz

The All Black first five debate has yet again reared it’s head eight months after Richie Mo’unga seemingly settled the dust on Ian Foster’s predicament in a dynamic and accurate performance against South Africa.

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This time, it’s been the form of Damian McKenzie that has sparked chatter, with the Chiefs off to a six-from-six start in Super Rugby Pacific, a run spearheaded by the return of their inspirational No 10 from Japan.

Those six wins include victories over both the Crusaders and Blues, games where McKenzie comfortably outplayed his opposing No 10s in Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett.

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Barrett’s poor performance in particular has called the All Blacks‘ pecking order into question, and despite being the most experienced campaigner for the job, Barrett’s form has failed to fire since last year’s Super Rugby Pacific season.

The Aotearoa Rugby Pod panel discussed what it would take for McKenzie to surpass Barrett or Mo’unga as Foster’s favourite.

“I think that’s pretty tough,” Former Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall said. “I think they’re pretty loyal, having the two tens.

“Damian’s come back, I think he’s the form ten and probably shown the best consistency with the Chiefs and he’s probably one of the reasons why they’ve gone undefeated.

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“But look, we’ve got two quality tens that probably aren’t where they want to be, but it’s a long competition, you’ve got to look at it around longevity and what it’s going to look like in the finals and that’s when we want them peaking.”

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The potential makeup of the All Blacks matchday 23 in the World Cup was then debated with Hall claiming McKenzie also needed to prove his ability at fullback in order to push Barrett for a place in the squad.

“It all depends on what they do with Beaduen as well, do they want to play him as an out-and-out ten or have him in that fullback role? Because if he’s fullback then there’s probably no need to have him and Damian in that 10/15 cover.”

Regardless of who ends up in the squad, the 2011 World Cup was evidence of the potential importance of having a quality third option at first five.

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Expanding on Hall’s comments, former Blues captain James Parsons expressed excitement at the challenge that McKenzie poses to both Barrett and Mo’unga, knowing it should bring the best out of the two, as healthy competition has in previous World Cups.

“The one thing I love about big-time players like Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett, and I suppose if we use (Dan) Carter and (Richie) McCaw leading into the 2015 World Cup, is when the pressure is one these individuals, they front up. They will nine times out of ten bring their very, very best out of themselves. So I’m excited to see that transition, into their World Class (best) because they won’t be going away without a fight.”

“114 Tests, I think (Barrett)’s going to have to do a lot more wrong to play himself out of the World Cup squad.”

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Comments

1 Comment
f
frandinand 688 days ago

Just seen the numbers for the super games so far this season.

Dmac 43 runs, 9 defenders beaten, 18 turnovers conceded
BB 47 and 7, and 10 turnovers conceded
Mo’unga 43 and 21 and 7 turnovers conceded.

On those figures BB is just not doing the basics adequately. 7 defenders beaten is an appalling figure.

And Dmac has only beaten 2 more. And Dmac's turnover statistics are appalling, 18 so far this season.
I find it hard to support the theory that he is the form 10 this season. I believe those that are saying it look at the highlights and not the overall performance.
Dmac has only played one full game at 10
Rest of the time has been swapped out to 15.
So
Chiefs have scored 27 tries this year
12 of which while Dmac was at 10
6 of those were against Moana Pasifika
It ain’t great reading
Thanks to Highlander for the stats.

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JW 1 hour ago
Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

Players like Prendergast and Finn Smith already have a few seasons at top club level under their belt and are now test players, at an age when NZ players make their debuts in SR.

That’s just a difference in standards. You’re confusing SR for being their local domestic comps, where it’s more accurately comparable to Champions Cup, apart from that teams are happy to throw games as it’s in a bit of a limbo in terms of importance atm.


All these kids have been playing for a comparable NPC team for years now. Sam is no where near ready for tests but he has a great temperament, much like Sextons, that makes it a good choice to speed up his development. He wasn’t even a comparable Super Rugby starter before playing for Ireland, so not a great comparison.


Fin would be much better example, but then England don’t have 3 world class Test tens in front of him (not that I’d put Beauden their but obviously in terms of young NZ players chances, he is). Would he otherwise have debuted at the same age as Fergus Burke (injury and leaving withstanding), around 24, a couple of years later? England also aren’t as pedantic to who they give jerseys to, in NZ a test jersey is very hard earned for the most part.


In general I think the effects are as you say, but the only difference is the money involved, as you yourself said, their paths are just as all over the show being loaned out playing for clubs etc. My solution to that, and what you perceive as the problem, would be to introduce university football that utilitizes the large investment they have into high performance sport.

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J
Jennifer Ross 4 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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J
Jennifer Ross 4 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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LONG READ
LONG READ Where is the new breed of All Black 10? Where is the new breed of All Black 10?
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