Will it be Richie Mo'unga (left) or Damian McKenzie (right) as Beauden Barrett's back-up? Photo / Getty
Will it be Richie Mo'unga (left) or Damian McKenzie (right) as Beauden Barrett's back-up? Photo / Getty
It has become clear in the last few weeks that Richie Mo'unga is the country's second-best first-five behind Beauden Barrett.
If anyone doubts that, watch him in the top of the table clash in Christchurch on Friday night.
Mo'unga has the look of a long-term All Black. He had an excellent campaign last year with the Crusaders, but in the month since he returned from a broken jaw, he's pushed to another level.
He's played with increased confidence and assuredness - the sort of maturity and authority that champion teams need. He's never hurried or flustered, parks his mistakes and never hides.
These are big qualities and not widely ingrained in New Zealand's wider crop of first-fives.
In the role of decision-making and player-maker, temperament is everything. It's what set Daniel Carter apart and it's what is at the core of Barrett's game - this inner calm and clarity that allows information to be processed consistently, quickly and systematically.
Mo'unga has that same hard drive and that same conviction in his own skills which are not quite at Barrett's level yet, but aren't so far off.
Mo'unga has a similar set of skills to Beauden Barrett. Photo / Photosport
He looks to have added a few metres to his long kicking. His kickoffs are becoming more of a weapon, as is his use of the cross kick but it is the way he is using the ball and working space for others that are defining him as an All Black-in-waiting.
But despite being the second best first-five in the country, Mo'unga isn't likely to be in the matchday 23 for the first test of the year on June 9.
He probably won't make the bench because the pecking order when it comes to No 10s is not linear. It is not a simple case of picking one and two and leaving it at that.
Mo'unga's place on the bench will instead be taken by Damian McKenzie, who offers not so much a better skills portfolio, but a different one.
McKenzie doesn't have the same composure as Mo'unga. His tactical control is not quite in the same league and he doesn't bring the same accuracy.
But what McKenzie does bring is the ability to change the pace and flow of a game should he be injected off the bench.
If the All Blacks find they are struggling to break the French down, they feel they will need something different in their play-making stocks to inject from the bench.
That's McKenzie.
While he can be a touch wild and erratic and border on the ridiculous, he can just as readily produce the sublime and there is no player in New Zealand that has his ability to pull off the sensational.
And he can be injected at either fullback or first-five and that versatility is hugely important.
Getting the bench right is critical and it is selected not just with a view to making sure there is adequate position cover to cater for any combination of injuries but to ensure there are specific means available to change the way the team is playing if needs be.
Benches are selected more with strategy than injury in mind and the All Blacks will spend ample time practising with McKenzie running things at No 10 with Barrett at fullback as well as the other way round to ensure they have distinctly different ways to test the opposition defence.
And it is with this in mind that there is a logical twist to this situation which is that should Barrett ever be ruled out of starting a test this year, it would most likely be Mo'unga and not McKenzie who would replace him in the No 10 jersey.
Mo'unga has the all-round game the selectors would want to have on the field from the start should Barrett be unavailable, with the game-changing qualities of McKenzie in reserve.
