All Blacks coach Ian Foster on team to play Fiji. Video / All Blacks TV
OPINION:
Plotting the All Blacks' first-choice starting XV is akin to reading tea leaves at present.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster admitted the selectors have something of an open book in most positions, as auditions continue through the next two tests against Fiji.
Yet in two of the most contentiousareas it seems conceivable, probable, even, that Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie could emerge as the preferred first five-eighth and fullback this year.
Much has been made of the Barrett-Richie Mo'unga dual playmaker combination the All Blacks favoured through the past two years with mixed success.
Take a step back and look to the previous season, however, and the preferred duo in this regard was Barrett and McKenzie. That pair started the final four tests of the 2018 season against Australia, England, Ireland and Italy away from home in the No 10 and 15 roles before McKenzie suffered the ACL injury in 2019 that ruled him out of the World Cup and severely restricted his freedoms on return last year.
Had McKenzie been fit, the All Blacks may well have continued with him at fullback through to the World Cup with Barrett and Mo'unga instead squaring off for the No 10 role.
That's not the reason the All Blacks lost their one-sided World Cup semifinal to England when their pack was badly beaten up, but losing McKenzie's talent was undoubtedly one setback that forced a reshuffle on the road to Japan.
Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett during an All Blacks media conference. Photo / Photosport
On return from his sabbatical this year Barrett has made no secret of his intent to reclaim his preferred position and challenge Mo'unga for the coveted 10 jersey.
That shift opened the fullback door and McKenzie nailed his first impression last week. Sure, it was against a fourth-string Tongan side, but as he did for the Chiefs this season McKenzie again demonstrated he is the best, natural playmaking fullback in New Zealand by regularly popping up at first and second receiver to create for others and share the directional responsibility.
"He's gone from being the guy that just did the dazzling runs, and getting some wrong, and now he's distributing, kicking well and giving us that two-sided attack we love," Foster noted of McKenzie after the 102-0 Tongan rout.
Setting aside whether McKenzie skips off to boost his bank balance with a short-term stint in Japan in 2022, this year he appears primed to reclaim the All Blacks fullback role.
Using McKenzie as the secondary playmaker also provides a more natural fit than pairing Barrett and Mo'unga, who are both accustomed to running the show.
With Jordie Barrett fading somewhat during the backend of Super Rugby Transtasman, no doubt in part due to the weight he carried in an inexperienced Hurricanes backline, McKenzie sits in pole position as New Zealand's form fullback with the All Blacks more than happy to utilise Will Jordan's pace and try-scoring intuition from the wing.
Beauden Barrett's expected return to start at No 10 against Fiji in Dunedin on Saturday is sure to reignite the debate about whether he or Mo'unga should be preferred for the opening Bledisloe Cup test on August 7.
The All Blacks rightly rewarded Mo'unga for his Super Rugby form and the fact he played in New Zealand by handing him the first start against Tonga last week. When Barrett was injected in the 54th minute, though, the authority he brought to immediately identifying space in the backfield and targeting it with his short kicking game stood out.
Beauden Barrett, Damiam McKenzie and Richie Mo'unga at an All Blacks training session. Photo / Photosport
Mo'unga is a world-class attacking talent with game-breaking abilities – of that there is no doubt. Yet for whatever reason in his 23 tests, including 16 starts at first-five, he has not commanded the same influence for the All Blacks as he does the Crusaders.
Mo'unga was superb in the 43-5 demolition of the Wallabies that locked away the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney last season. Everything was on a string that night. But the supreme quality of that performance has been a relative rarity in the black jersey.
To this point at least, Barrett has reached the greater heights for the All Blacks from first-five as a dual world player of the year. He's vastly more experienced, having played 89 tests, and after working with acclaimed elite performance coach Dave Alred - Jonny Wilkinson's former mentor - Barrett has significantly improved his kicking out of hand and off the tee.
No matter who gets the nod to start, the great challenge for Barrett and Mo'unga remains combating the world's best rush defences, with both showing vulnerabilities without the desired front-foot platform.
Barrett must yet prove he can seamlessly step up from the Japanese Top League to the test arena, but playing a weakened Fijian side, who have just emerged from two weeks quarantine, under the Dunedin roof this week presents the ideal chance to stamp his mark.
While it's far from a clear cut scenario if Barrett can achieve that, it would not surprise to see him and McKenzie rekindle their dual playmaking combination when the time comes for Foster to settle on his first-choice side.
