The All Blacks went full 'McKenzie' in the third test
There were four new debutants and a host of new starters but the All Blacks machine kept rolling last night, comprehensively signing off a 3-nil series victory over France with a 49-14 win in the final test.
The game followed a similar script to the first test, with French spirit keeping them in the match for a half or so before they wore down and became fodder. On the fast indoor pitch in Dunedin the All Blacks went to width frequently and played an expansive game, in the process unleashed the full potential of dynamo Damian McKenzie in his first start at first five-eighth.
Again the individual brilliance was on show intertwined with moments of underwhelming play. One minute he’s kicking out on the full with no pressure and the next deftly chipping the line with the left foot or ripping a pass to an unmarked runner. It seems that errors fuel McKenzie into a high-octane state, where he starts shakey before ripping apart all before him in an explosive frenzy. The lows are low and highs are sky high.
There might not be a more enigmatic player in world rugby. How do you filter out the ‘minus’ plays and keep the brilliant? This is the puzzle the All Blacks coaches want to solve, as the answer may uncover the world’s next best player – that’s how influential he can be.
In a 15-minute period in second half he scored his second try and set up two more, at a crucial time in the game to pull the All Blacks away. They persisted with similar patterns the Chiefs have used with McKenzie at 10 this year to give the bite-sized first five his favoured plays.
The backdoor release freed McKenzie from the second level all night where he attacked a pensive, slowing defensive line. The All Blacks went heavy on this pod release play to give McKenzie the ball as much as possible coming from depth and allow more width in the game in general.
Of the 15 times McKenzie lined up behind the first pod, they fed him nine times out the back, 60% of the time. That’s a huge amount considering forwards often keep it simple, showing how much the All Blacks wanted to stretch this French side laterally.
In the 53rd minute, the play paid off when he knifed through a yawning gap between two props and ran circles around winger Gael Fickou to score untouched. When a defender bites hard on the tip runner, McKenzie is given an invitation to take on the line, which he has no hesitation in doing.
One of the change-ups they run is switching McKenzie with Ben Smith so he can attack wider as a fullback. They tried this twice in the match and surprisingly it led to one intercept and one dropped intercept. Despite many holding the opinion that his best position is still fullback, his worst plays of the night came from that role.
His touches at first receiver in flatter situations started to show signs of confidence, with no qualms about throwing rocket cutouts, which he shelved last week. Despite those two dicey intercept chances, he hit the money on a beautiful try assist to Rieko Ioane, throwing a face ball past Jordie Barrett. His line running was finally on the same page with Aaron Smith, scoring off the scrum despite a dubious call by the referee. This was the same play that McKenzie tried to cut under Smith on last week, causing a turnover on the communication blunder.
The All Blacks have implemented some new exit strategies around McKenzie, opting for him to kick directly off the base of the scrum instead of using a two-phase setup. Despite his diminutive stature, the purchase he gets on his kick is quite remarkable. He can thump it a good 55-60 metres, often finding a decent angle when clearing to the line.
He hit seven from seven off the tee in a faultless display of goal kicking, but it was a couple of unforced errors from kicking out-of-hand that had doubters shaking heads early. His emphatic rebound only proved that he is erratic, with such large swings in his game.
The risk/reward equation with McKenzie most definitely ended with handsome reward last night.
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments