Damian iPad needs virus protection
Damian McKenzie is probably the most exciting player in New Zealand but the All Blacks haven’t been able to come up with the answer yet as to what the hell they are going to do with him.
McKenzie is proving to be a little like an iPad — a supremely clever device with unlimited functions and yet in practice no one is entirely sure for what purpose they will use it.
That’s McKenzie — supremely quick, agile, brave, resourceful, skilled, determined, but not particularly easy to know what position suits him best.
And what has also become clear in the last two tests is that his style of all-out adventure on attack from fullback makes the All Blacks as vulnerable as they are dangerous. As much as fullback has become a key point of attack for the All Blacks, it is a position which requires an element of patience, conservatism and lowrisk option-taking.
Ben Smith and Israel Dagg when they play there mix their respective games up. They will be defensive in mind-set at times — build the pressure on opponents with accurate execution of relatively conservative options.
They wait for their moment to strike, aware that when the half chance comes, they have to be clinical.
What the All Blacks coaches have learned in the last two tests is that McKenzie is struggling for balance. He has all the skills required to play at fullback, but hasn’t shown that ability to be measured and controlled.
In two tests he has given away two tries from poor passes. The first was in Sydney when an ambitious offload went wrong and the second was in Dunedin when he needed to float the pass over Israel Folau instead of trying to fire it flat.
They have been costly mistakes and the question the All Blacks coaches have been wrestling with is whether these mistakes are the result of his youthful exuberance and lack of experience at this level, or because he’s just not suited to starting tests wearing No 15.
What it has looked like in the past two tests is that McKenzie has tried to play as a No 10 from fullback. There were, as a result, moments of brilliance and moments of wildness that cost the All Blacks. The outcome of which is that McKenzie is unlikely to be at fullback in New Plymouth this week. The selectors won’t have drawn a red line through his name, but they will be wondering if the better way to use McKenzie is off the bench, licensed to attack as he wants.
His propensity for all-out attack comes with a lower risk factor later in a game when fatigue is gripping and teams are less able to respond to mistakes.
Whatever the longer term plan for McKenzie, the expectation this week is the stability, composure and experience of Dagg could be used at fullback. He’ll bring a level head and consistently accurate execution without curbing the All Blacks’ ability to attack with lightning speed.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Nehe Milner-Skudder is returned to action on the right wing, having not played at this level since the World Cup due to elongated injury dramas, and the in-form Rieko Ioane stays on the left.