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Liam Messam named for 100th cap as Damian McKenzie dons No 10 for Waikato
While the kick-off of the latest iteration of New Zealand’s provincial completion may be playing second-fiddle to the All Blacks‘ tour of South Africa at present, Waikato have managed to name a side that should attract plenty of eyes when they take on Hawke’s Bay this weekend.
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Waikato, the current champions of the NPC, will run out an experienced team for their first match of the season, which includes 13 players who featured in last year’s grand final.
It’s the inclusion of impending centurion Liam Messam and returning All Black Damian McKenzie that will unsurprisingly capture the most attention, however.
Messam, who made his debut for Waikato back in 2003 – when current All Blacks coach Ian Foster was in charge of the provincial side – was poised to earn his 100th cap last season until Covid forced the team to relocate to the Bay of Plenty for the latter stages of the campaign. Messam remained in Hamilton, however, and managed to earn his 99th cap appearance in the grand final when the side was able to return to the local region.
Accruing 100 runs on the board will mark an incredible achievement for the former All Black, who has also clocked up 43 caps for the national side and is the most capped Chiefs player of all time, with 184 appearances to his name.
Damian McKenzie, meanwhile, will make his first professional appearance in New Zealand since last year’s mid-year tests. While the pocket rocket travelled to Australia and Europe with the All Blacks for the Rugby Championship and northern tour, he found himself playing second-fiddle to Jordie Barrett in the No 15 jersey.
Following the test campaign, McKenzie suggested that he was weighing up a permanent shift to the first five role for his time in Japan, where he had signed to play for Tokyo Sungoliath for the season. Although McKenzie spent much of his time at fullback, he continued to shift between the two positions throughout the campaign and now appears to be set for an extended run at No 10 for Waikato.
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McKenzie will partner Xavier Roe in the halves while the Chiefs’ debutant of the season, Cortez Ratima, will provide back-up for Roe off the bench.
In the midfield, D’Angelo Leuila – one of the heroes of last season – will line up alongside Hurricanes centre Bailyn Sullivan. Debutants Daniel Sinkinson and Tepaea Cook-Savage will combine with the experienced Liam Coombes-Fabling, with Alapati Leuia and Mosese Dawai covering the outside backs on the bench.
Up front, co-captain Ayden Johnstone, Rhys Marshall and George Dyer form an impressive front-row while James Tucker and Hamilton Burr will resume their successful partnership from last season.
Messam – wearing the No 6 jersey – will link up with Mitch and Luke Jacobson in the loose forwards.
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Pita Anae-Ah Sue, Rob Cobb, Sefo Kautai, Laghlan McWhannell and Jack Lam round out the reserves.
Altogether, 21 of the 23 players named for Saturday’s match have played Super Rugby.
This weekend’s fixture kicks off at 4:35pm NZT from Waikato Stadium.
Waikato: Tepaea Cook-Savage, Liam Coombes-Fabling, Bailyn Sullivan, D’Angelo Leuila, Daniel Sinkinson, Damian McKenzie, Xavier Roe, Luke Jacobson, Mitch Jacobson (cc), Liam Messam, Hamilton Burr, James Tucker, George Dyer, Rhys Marshall, Ayden Johnstone (cc). Reserves: Pita Anae-Ah Sue, Rob Cobb, Sefo Kautai, Laghlan McWhannell, Jack Lam, Cortez Ratima, Alapati Leuia, Mosese Dawai.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments