How McKenzie injury rocks the All Blacks
Building up to the Rugby World Cup the respective national team coaches and selectors will have a sense of what their squads should look like. However, many plans from now until the start of the World Cup will have to change because of the injuries that will invariably occur.
Damian McKenzie’s anterior cruciate ligament injury, which has cruelly ruled him out of the showpiece in Japan, is one such case study and throws a real spanner in the works for the All Blacks.
Injuries to key personnel complicate matters for coaches because many mentors have a certain style of play and they look for a player in that mould in a position. A case in point would be McKenzie, who started to fulfil the second first-receiver role from fullback. In phase play, he would have the liberty to give New Zealand two sides from which to attack the whole time or alternatively allow first fiveeighth, Beauden Barrett, to take the ball to the line and have a go because there would be a second first-receiver to take the ball. It’s very similar to the second fiveeighth concept I wrote about last week, which allows you to play with more width.
In the past, New Zealand very often played fullbacks that didn’t fit the mould as a dual playmaker on the wings. Ben Smith is a recent example and before him Israel Dagg and Cory Jane spring to mind. The All Black selectors realised that the aforementioned fullbacks made amazing wings because they dominated the kicking game owing to their excellent aerial skills but they weren’t fulfilling the second or third playmaker role well enough.
If you look across the world, Alex Goode offers another dimension to the Saracens attack. It’s interesting to note how many people feel that England coach Eddie Jones is getting it wrong by not selecting Goode at fullback. Although incumbent Elliot Daly is a good rugby player, he doesn’t offer what Goode does as a second first-receiver. With Owen Farrell having shifted to first five-eighth and Manu Tuilagi chosen to occupy the second five-eighth berth, all of a sudden England have run out of two playmakers
in one go. Goode becomes a necessity if you want to employ the dual playmaker strategy, which we observed from New Zealand during last year’s tour to the northern hemisphere.
Australia did a very similar thing by picking Kurtley Beale at No 12 because they realised what he could offer them there. But now with Israel Folau set to be cut from the picture, Beale can offer Australia a strike-running, playmaking fullback option. Meanwhile, South Africa have also got into said position. It’s very interesting because the number one Springbok fullback is Willie le Roux, who has played plenty of rugby at first fiveeighth. He is so comfortable at first-receiver because he has operated there in all of his formative teams. Almost all of the
Springboks’ good backline play revolves around Le Roux making sage decisions on the ball. He’s not a strikerunner but a playmaker.
When assessing South Africa’s future, you invariably look at Damian Willemse at No 12 and Curwin Bosch at fullback going forward. In rugby, as in life, the more things change the more they stay the same and this is a good example of having a multi-faceted attack, with first prize being that you sit with three good ball-players at 10, 12 and 15. All three should offer a threat with ball-in-hand and be good decision-makers with soft hands. It would allow them to put width onto the ball and especially with the new way of playing where players come out of the back of the pod so often. If, as a team, you can have three different playmakers behind the pods, all of a
sudden your attack takes on a different dimension compared to employing a bashing second five-eighth or a hardrunning fullback.
Springbok coach and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus sees in Willemse what Le Roux offers, which is why the Stormers have been asked to accommodate the 20-year-old at fullback this Super Rugby season. Without Le Roux, the South African attack has never looked the same and with McKenzie missing there might be similar concerns for New Zealand. The fact that the All Blacks don’t have a likefor-like replacement for McKenzie is a worry. They have gone for Jordie Barrett, who has done plenty of good things but he definitely doesn’t offer you what the former does on an offensive front.
It’s certainly a point of concern for the men in black because much of their brilliant play has come through McKenzie in the past. The All Blacks’ argument would be that they have enough good players to offset the loss of McKenzie but his injury does affect the way they want to play the oval-shaped game. However, on the plus side, an injury to one player can afford opportunity to another. McKenzie’s lengthy injury layoff will potentially open the door for a playmaking No 12 because if the 24-year-old isn’t available to play fullback, it really limits New Zealand’s ability to get the ball wide.
While many in New Zealand regard McKenzie’s long-term future at first five-eighth, I definitely think his best position is fullback. His game-breaking ability is his point of difference and his distributing skills are an add-on. The space is too limited at No 10, which is why I believe he is best suited to 15.
■ South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks.