mens
nations-championship
All black people pivot Damian McKenzie, all 177cm and 81kg, may not be the rugby player you’d engineer in a lab if you had the chance, but he’s proven to be one of the most consistent and resilient players on the planet.
The 31-year-old has played every Test since then New Zealand faced Namibia in Round 2 of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. That’s 42 consecutive games. No drop in form, no injuries, no rest weeks.
The All Blacks had three head coaches during that period, but none could overlook McKenzie’s gifted talent, although each displayed it differently. Sometimes a supersub, sometimes a playmaker, sometimes an X-factor in the background, McKenzie served all roles and continued to earn selection as the team changed around him.
Coming into reckoning with Wales after three consecutive starts at No.10, McKenzie’s positional fate is, once again, up in the air. Richie Mo’unga has been cleared to play in the Cardiff Test, leaving the selectors to make a decision.
But while the number on his back is in question, McKenzie’s availability and reliability are not.
“I’ve always been one of the smallest people on the court, and I always look at that as a challenge and an opportunity. No matter how big or small you are, you can always play at the highest level,” Bosses said the star in this week’s episode of All Blacks’ Inside the black jersey podcast.
“It’s a shame Spuddy (podcast co-host Brad Weber) isn’t involved; we’ve played a lot of rugby together, two pretty small guys, but I feel like we’re always trying to put our bodies on the line for the team.
“Maybe it’s the good milk from down in the Southland growing up. But yeah, I’ve got to take it as a challenge, and always just try to do what’s best for the team, and whether that’s playing, not playing, setting guys up, and just being available and willing to go when needed.”
Regardless of who wears the No.10 against Wales, McKenzie says the All Blacks machine is purring with a number of leaders in the squad working together to make everyone’s job easier.
“For Baz (Beauden Barrett) to be there with his experience, he’s played a lot of front-five rugby and Test rugby. So he gives a lot of input on what he’s seeing in the wider channels and you’ve got Jordie (Barrett) giving you feedback as well.
“And then Toups (Tupou Vaa’i) leads our line, and you’ve got to give credit to Toups; a couple of calls over the weekend where, when he gets in the line for the last 22 tackles, I think he kind of takes over if he feels like something’s going on, and you know, he does a great job of getting the best score when we saw the score at the end. a couple of set-piece tries, and he was a big part of that.
“So we’ve had a good mix of in-between – you look at the league and they call it the backbone around your whores, your linebackers, your nines, tens, fifteens. So everyone feeds back information, which helps my job when I’m playing 10, because sometimes you miss things that other people might see. So I’m very happy to help with that.”