New Zealand v Uruguay, OL Stadium, Lyons, Thursday, 8.0 Irish time – Live RTÉ 2
Watching Damian McKenzie’s performance tour de force at the RDS last November, as he managed to simultaneously create and exploit space for a New Zealand Development XV while ruthlessly prising apart an Ireland A team, the thought came to mind that he would be a nailed-on Test outhalf in many other countries.
Or fullback for that matter, a more familiar position over his 44 caps in an All Blacks jersey, whether starting or coming off the bench. A primary reason or reasons for his limited match minutes relatively speaking is the presence of Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett as first-choice options in the 10 and 15 jerseys.
The 28-year-old McKenzie made his New Zealand debut in 2016 initially as an outhalf but found Beauden Barrett initially and latterly Mo’unga as the preferred choice, and while he managed greater traction in the 15 jersey, he found at various stages Ben Smith, Will Jordan and a couple of Barretts, Beauden and Jordie as formidable adversaries.
A torn cruciate meant that he wasn’t considered for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. McKenzie though continues to step out of the shadows when given the opportunity, as he demonstrated in his late cameo against Italy, flawless off the tee, gliding over for a try — he’s got 18 in 44 Tests, two at the World Cup — and creating others for teammates.
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Opponents dread his arrival from the bench because of that ability to run ragged teams that are running low on energy or cohesion. Tonight, in Lyons he gets a chance to start a match and he will share some time in the role as first receiver with Mo’unga and act as a distributor or playmaker in the outside channels.
He’s simply happy to be playing whatever number is on his back. “It’s a little bit different from what I’ve been playing this year. It’s [fullback] a role I am familiar with though. In the All Blacks [team] as a 10, we find ourselves back in the backfield quite often. For me, it’s great to have an opportunity to have a bit more freedom at fullback and help Richie [Mo’unga] where I can.
“We’ve grown well from our first game against France. We had a good performance against Namibia and then Italy last weekend was great as well. I think our attack is growing, from numbers 1-15 we are all putting up our hands where we need to in terms of our phase stuff and our attack. And we know we can get better still.”
That’s not good news for Uruguay, who have acquitted themselves very capably at the tournament and, as New Zealand head coach Ian Foster noted, lost to France (27-12) by a similar score to the All Blacks (27-13), albeit acknowledging that the host nation played a second-string side against the South Americans.
One aspect of the game in which Uruguay have been strong is the breakdown, a facet about which head coach Esteban Meneses has been asked. “The game is going to be decided there. It’s going to be a battle. Each defensive ruck for them is a war, two and sometimes more players.
“We have trained for this; our idea is to play the breakdown quickly, it will happen by being there earlier and get us quality balls to play from. As for our defensive ruck, it is the opposite, making the ball slow for them, not letting them play at their intensity, their speed, as it is going to make it difficult.
“Sitting in this situation of analysing them is a dream. It brings the challenge of maximising Uruguay’s strengths as a team and finding a way to neutralise theirs, as they do the simple perfectly. We have studied them and will want to have the ability to try to neutralise them in the game for as many minutes as possible.”
That’s it in a nutshell for the South American side, hang on for dear life and see where that takes them. New Zealand, well, they’ll be looking for another statement win.
NEW ZEALAND: D McKenzie; W Jordan, A Lienert-Brown, J Barrett, L Fainga’anuku; R Mo’unga, C Roigard; O Tu’ungafasi, C Taylor, T Lomax; S Whitelock, T Vaa’i; S Frizell, S Cane (capt), L Jacobson.
Replacements: S Taukei’aho, T Williams, F Newell, S Barrett, E Blackadder, F Christie, B Barrett, C Clarke.
URUGUAY: R Silva; G Mieres, T Inciarte, A Vilaseca (capt), N Freitas; F Etcheverry, S Arata; M Sanguinetti, G Kessler, D Arbelo; I Dotti, M Leindekar; M Ardao, L Bianchi, M Diana.
Replacements: G Pujadas, M Benitez, I Peculo, J Manuel Rodríguez, S Civetta, A Ormaechea, F Berchesi, JM Alonso.
Referee: W Barnes (England).
