2 weeks Ago
TONIGHT WILL MARK Damian McKenzie’s 59th cap for New Zealand, but his past experience against Ireland is surprisingly limited given the eventful rivalry that has existed between the two sides during his international career. McKenzie made his Test debut as a 21-year-old in the 2016 Rugby Championship, a month before Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time on that historic day in Chicago. The versatile Chiefs back wasn’t involved on that occasion and has held a watching brief for most of the colourful tussles between Ireland and New Zealand in the years since.
In fact, McKenzie has only lined out against Ireland once at Test level, starting the 2018 defeat in Dublin at full-back, where he was replaced by Richie Mo’unga after 56 minutes. McKenzie was on the bench for last year’s World Cup quarter-final but was an unused substitute as Ian Foster’s side edged a thriller at the Stade de France. Tonight he is backed to play a central role in the rivalry’s latest chapter, starting at 10 in the absence of Beauden Barrett, who sits out the game due to a head injury.
It’s a big opportunity at the tailend of what has been an eventful year for McKenzie. When Foster departed as New Zealand head coach after the World Cup one of the many big decisions facing his successor, Scott Robertson, was what to do with the 10 jersey. Mo’unga had made the position his own across that World Cup cycle but has since ruled himself out of contention by moving to Japan’s Toshiba Brave Lupus – although there are already reports that New Zealand Rugby want to lure him home early from his three-year deal.
Initially McKenzie appeared to be Robertson’s man, starting eight consecutive Tests across the July Tests and Rugby Championship at out-half, but he felt some outside heat as the All Blacks lost three of those championship games. For the closing fixture against the Wallabies, McKenzie dropped to the bench as Barrett – who had been preferred at full-back – started at out-half for the first time since 2022. The knock-on effect was that the position appeared up for grabs heading into the autumn games.
McKenzie was back at 10 for a 64-19 defeat of Japan last month before Barrett returned for last weekend’s win against England. Robertson admitted Barrett’s selection was in part due to his superior tactical kicking game. That suggests Barrett would have continued for tonight’s game in Dublin but his absence opens the door for McKenzie to show his coaches he can be the player they want him to be.
There is no denying McKenzie’s quality. The 29-year-old is a Super Rugby superstar as the Chiefs’ all-time top point scorer and was arguably the competition’s stand-out 10 last season. Yet his Test career has had it’s bumps in the road, with the ACL injury which ruled him out of the 2019 World Cup a particularly tough blow at a time when he was enjoying a fine run of form.
Having been in and out of the starting team since recovering from that injury – starting 12 of his 24 Test caps between his return in 2020 through to last year’s World Cup – this was the year McKenzie was finally handed the keys, to mixed reviews. Whatever about the outside noise and opinions of supporters and columnists, internally, the New Zealand coaches have been pushing McKenzie to strike more balance in his play. McKenzie is a gifted attacker capable of moments of individual brilliance, with his ability to break the line truly world class.
He has the temperament for the big occasions – evidenced by his ice-cold conversion at Twickenham – but can lack the game control required of an elite Test-level 10 and he has been guilty of poor errors with some of his execution. These were issues which cropped up as Japan battled back in Yokohama. During the Rugby Championship, Robertson discussed how New Zealand were looking to get the best out their “mercurial” play-maker.
“He can play, he can turn it on. We know how gifted an athlete and player he can be. He’s getting better at his craft.
We’ve got to finish a couple of opportunities and we’re aware of that. “We have the confidence side of it to create them. We’ve had more meetings than Saatchi and Saatchi, it feels like, around the actual opportunity to see them and finish them.
You don’t want to take any negative tension around that. You want to train it, and give it. It’s been there.
It just needs to click.” Tonight promises to be a serious test of his ability to lead New Zealand and to add a further level of intrigue, he’ll do so alongside Cortez Ratima, who is winning just his 10th Test cap and might have feared a drop to the bench this week. Ratima started in London last weekend but was replaced by the highly-rated Cam Roigard after an hour.
An impressive Super Rugby run as the starting nine for the Chiefs nudged Ratima into the picture with the All Blacks, making his Test debut off the bench against England in July before laying down a marker with a star turn in New Zealand’s Bledisloe win in Sydney. Robertson has likened the 23-year-old to Tawera Kerr-Barlow in terms his workrate off the ball, and his rise sets up a fascinating battle with Roigard, who made a strong impression at the World Cup – where he featured three times – and looked primed to grab the nine jersey on the back of Aaron Smith’s retirement. However Roigard’s progression was hampered by a serious knee injury in March of this year.
Still only a handful games back from that setback, he’s been battling with Ratima and the hugely experienced TJ Perenara – who is also Japan-bound in 2025 – on this tour. At 6ft, Roigard offers a physical presence alongside an impressive athletic ability – in January he matched New Zealand’s record bronco time of 4:12, originally set by Beauden Barrett in 2020. He’s also enjoyed an interesting path to Test rugby.
As a child, Roigard was worried his small statute would hold him back and was involved in speedway racing right up until he signed with the Hurricanes in 2021. He made his Super Rugby bow that same year and was capped by the All Blacks in the 2023 Rugby Championship. The Japan game was his first Test appearance of the year and delivered a mixed bag, with some poor box-kicking detracting from some excellent moments with ball-in-hand.
He followed with a good impact off the bench against England, with his pressure on George Ford’s late missed drop goal a notable contribution. It wasn’t enough to push his way back into the starting team for tonight, where Ratima and McKenzie will be determined to show Robertson that they can be his leading men. It is not hard to envision the picture changing again across New Zealand’s remaining games against France and Italy.
Nearing the end of Robertson’s first year in charge as New Zealand head coach, the half-back battle remains unresolved..
