Back where he belongs: Why Damian McKenzie needs to stay at fullback
It should be no surprise to anyone that the two games that the Chiefs haven’t lost this year are games of which their playmaking maestro Damian McKenzie has been playing at fullback.
It’s a position that the 23-year-old has made a big impression in since bursting onto the Super Rugby scene with the Chiefs in 2015, and despite the club’s best efforts to play him as a first-five to fill the void left by veteran pivot Aaron Cruden in 2017, it’s fullback where he’s proving to be most valuable.
The Chiefs’ horrendous start to the season followed by two much-improved performances against the Hurricanes and Bulls illustrates the impact McKenzie can make when switched from 10 to 15.
He missed their tight season-opening defeat at the hands of the Highlanders in Hamilton through injury, but when he returned to the starting side for their clash against the Brumbies in Canberra, he wasn’t able to turn his side’s fortunes around as they stumbled to a record 54-17 defeat.
What followed was a first-ever loss to the Sunwolves on Kiwi soil a week later, before being pumped 57-28 by the Crusaders in Christchurch.
McKenzie played in all three of those humiliating fixtures, starting every time at first-five.
In recent seasons, he has built a reputation for himself as someone who can set a match alight from nothing with a sudden burst through the opposition’s defensive line using his sharp footwork and lightning speed.
For a professional rugby player as small as him – standing at 1.77m and 78kg – he needs those attributes in order to survive on the field, and when playing in the right position, he utilises those attributes to thrive and standout to not only make him one of the most exciting players to watch in Super Rugby, but also one of the most important players at the Chiefs.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, McKenzie was not being played in the right position in those three games against the Brumbies, Sunwolves and Crusaders.
Sure, he has the playmaking ability to sufficiently direct his side throughout Super Rugby as a first-five, but if the Chiefs really wanted to capitalise on the talents that McKenzie can offer them, then they needed to play him at fullback where he could have made the most of broken defensive lines on the counter-attack and the open pasture in front of him further out in the backline.
Playing much further in-field at first-five significantly restricted McKenzie’s capacity to run with as much freedom and impulsiveness compared to when he’s playing fullback, such is the nature of the first-five position where he is confronted with much more traffic in a lot tighter spaces.
Without that freedom while in possession of the ball, McKenzie’s strengths were not being played to, and the Chiefs subsequently suffered for it in the opening month of Super Rugby.
However, with the Chiefs reaching crisis point in round five with no wins on the board as they prepared to host the star-studded Hurricanes, head coach Colin Cooper made the critical change which saw McKenzie move to fullback.
He won’t have regretted that shift, as the Chiefs are now two games undefeated following a 23-23 draw with the Hurricanes and 56-20 thumping of the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend.
There is no doubt that McKenzie’s positional switch played a big role in the Chiefs’ turnaround, as is reflected in his match statistics.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvDnFpNArRs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
In his first three appearances at first-five, McKenzie scored no tries and assisted just one, while his back-to-back outings at fullback have seen him score his maiden five-pointer of 2019, while assisting another three.
His average running metres have catapulted from 30.3m to 72m since moving into the backfield, while he has claimed his first four clean breaks of the year and has, on average, beaten more defenders per match than he did at first-five.
McKenzie’s statistical boost obviously has a direct correlation to the Chiefs’ vastly-improved results, and while Cooper remained coy about where he intends to play the 23-cap test star in future following the Bulls clash, he should know where he belongs.
Regardless of who is running the cutter at first-five, whether it be Jack Debreczeni, Marty McKenzie, Stephen Donald or even Orbyn Leger, as long as Damian McKenzie remains at fullback, the Chiefs can expect to overturn their horrific start to the year.
Watch: Raelene Castle on Sunwolves axing:
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
65 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments