Jury remains out on Damian McKenzie as he gets another crack at No.10 against Ireland

“Ah, D-Mac is D-Mac, isn’t he?” said New Zealand boss Scott Robertson when asked about his playmaker in Dublin this week.

'RUGBY MARMITE': Damian McKenzie during a New Zealand rugby squad training session at Wanderers Football Club in Dublin this week. Pic Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Damian McKenzie turns 30 in less than six months. He has 58 caps with the All Blacks to his name, an enormous body of work put together with the Chiefs and another bulging portfolio from his ties with Waikato.

There have been appearances with the New Zealand Maori, the Kiwi XVs side, the national U20s and a short stint with Tokyo Sungoliath. And yet the jury, somehow, remains holed up in a room locked in endless debate as to his worth.

McKenzie has provided no end of sublime moments in the All Blacks jersey. Most of them have come as a full-back but then Scott Robertson handed him the keys at ten and pointed him towards the open road for their first seven games of 2024.

With Richie Mo’unga away earning the yen in Japan, it was an all-out expression of faith until Beauden Barrett was returned to the pocket for the final Rugby Championship game against Australia and last week’s appointment in Twickenham against England.

McKenzie started in between those two ties against Japan.

It looked as if his time had passed, again, but the subsequent injury to Barrett in London re-opened the door and the versatile farmer’s son will wear the No.10 against Ireland on Friday night with all the same old questions still to be answered.

The suspicion is that he just isn’t a tight enough game manager at Test level. In that, and the blonde hair and small stature, there are shades of Ian Madigan whose obvious talents were never deemed to be enough for some.

“Ah, D-Mac is D-Mac, isn’t he?” said Robertson when asked about his playmaker earlier this week. “You get a bit of everything from him, but when he's on, he's world-class and he showed some great touches and just keep believing in himself.” Robertson was less lyrical when it was put to him that maybe McKenzie could need some reigning in at times, his terse replies to the Kiwi TV reporter shutting down the discussion there and then but satisfying no-one long-term.

McKenzie at ten is rugby Marmite.

This was maybe never more apparent – and stark – than two months ago after the round five defeat of the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship when the player’s tenure in the position was up for discussion on the Aotearua Rugby pod on Sky Sports NZ.

Bryn Hall, until recently a half-back with the Blues and Crusaders, accepted that there were occasional game management issues but expressed the belief that McKenzie had been playing “outstanding” rugby through the competition up to that point.

“He is making multiple attacking line breaks through different ways, through counter attack, just a heads-up play, a kick-and-chase… I can imagine as a defensive coach watching Damian McKenzie you have got to be on your job.

“It took Richie [Mo’unga] quite a long time to even get those kind of gaps. It took him three to four seasons to even get a chance to be able to do that. Now I know that they are on a little bit of a different game plan, but Damian is playing really well.” 

James Parsons, a two-time capped All Black hooker, rowed in by highlighting the scoring opportunities created and his “heart of a lion” in defence. He also pointed out how all tens tend to get too much praise or stick depending on the collective.

“For people watching it once and having a few lemonades it is an easy judgement to make to say the ten is no good,” he said. “It happens every week.” 

That was one side of it. The other was a former All Black out-half wizard in Carlos Spencer who, despite being another player to be classed as mercurial, just doesn’t see a Test-level ‘first five-eight’ in the man from Invercargill.

Spencer sees a player who is more than capable of playing the role at Super Rugby level but one who is an exceptional full-back at the international game. His talents, he believes, are better suited to joining the line as that second playmaker.

“I almost feel a little bit sorry for him to be honest,” he told Newstalk ZB. “It’s been a tough little road for him, obviously on the back of a team that probably hasn’t performed to its potential, and unfortunately it’s usually the No.10 that takes most of the stick.

“I’ve always considered Damian as a better fullback than a No 10.” 

The similarly versatile Stephen Perofeta provides backup in both positions off the bench against Ireland, Harry Plummer was called up to the wider squad from the All Blacks XVs after the Munster game last weekend and Barrett will be available again soon.

Any verdict at ten remains elusive.