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'We won with him and we lost with him and we crack on': Old conundrum facing the McKenzie-less Chiefs

By Tom Vinicombe
(Photo by Peter Meecham/Getty Images)

Heading into the 2021 season, the key battle amongst the Chiefs ranks appeared to be who would be entrusted with the No 10 jersey: Kaleb Trask or Bryn Gatland.

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Trask shared the duties with former All Black Aaron Cruden in 2020 and took over as the starting first five-eighth once any hopes of a Super Rugby Aotearoa championship were dashed, seemingly in preparation for the years ahead.

Curiously, while Trask and Gatland were both given ample opportunities at No 10 this year, it’s been Damian McKenzie who’s seemingly emerged as the first-choice candidate.

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Gatland has had the most starts at first five, playing five matches, while Trask has started in that role on three occasions. McKenzie’s taken on the playmaking duties in the last three encounters, however, and was likely to stay in the role, were it not for the three-week suspension handed out due to a high tackle made on Tate McDermott in the Chiefs’ loss to the Reds over the weekend.

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Chiefs assistant coach David Hill confirmed that McKenzie would be heading home to Hamilton while the rest of the team relocates from Queensland to Sydney in preparation for their match with the Rebels.

“He’s obviously pretty gutted with what went down but we made it pretty clear to him and the team made it pretty clear to him that he wasn’t allowed to say sorry or anything like that,” Hill said. “We won with him and we lost with him and we crack on.

“He was pretty upset after the game. He’s slowly coming round. We’re a pretty tight group, like to give each other a little bit of stick. He’s probably got to fill water bottles and do some laundry to make it up to us for the next day or two, until we kick him out and get rid of him.

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“It was obviously a disappointing red card during the game and when it comes to judiciary stuff, it’s very much out of our hands and just have to cop what they deem is the appropriate punishment and crack on.”

With McKenzie unavailable, it’s again time for the Chiefs coaches to elect a new No 10, with Trask and Gatland the obvious options.

Trask switched mirrored McKenzie’s usual in-game shift on Saturday evening, switching from fullback to first five once the starting No 10 had been sent from the field, and is probably a more like-for-like replacement for the All Black.

Gatland, however, is perhaps a cooler pair of hands but Hill and his fellow coaches have the utmost trust in both players.

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“We’ve got some great options there and very confident, have trust and faith in the whole squad to do a job,” said Hill. “We’ll just crack on and find the best combination for the next couple of games.

“Bryn started the [Super Rugby Aotearoa] final for us, Trasky started three in a row when we won three in a row. Really comfortable with either of those options. The Blues game, we started Bryn at 10 and Kaleb at 15 and … we’ve got [fullback] Chase [Tiatia] and even Shaun Stevenson. We’ve got some good options there.

“For this week, we’ll mix and match a little bit but we’re pretty flexible around what the team needs and how we want to play the game as to who starts there but as you’ve seen with Damo moving around, we’ve got the ability to start one at 15 and potentially move them and do a bit of that.”

The Chiefs are set to play the Rebels in Hamilton on Sunday but if the travel corridor between Victoria and New Zealand is not green-lit, the game will instead be played at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval.

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J
Jon 45 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 8 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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