He’s lived through three All Blacks coaches and four Chiefs coaches – all of whom have loved his skills portfolio, but none of whom have worked out how to use it because McKenzie hasn’t built the requisite trust or confidence that he’ll commit to the pragmatic over the flamboyant.
The sense of frustration for McKenzie must have been acute.
While the coaching fraternity has been baffled about what to do with him, he’s held a strong desire to wear the All Blacks No 10 jersey and be both magical and whimsical, and yet also level-headed and tactically astute to offer the perfect mix of qualities that test playmakers need to thrive.
But he’s never quite been able to consistently deliver on both fronts, and perhaps the best example of his contrary make-up came in Sydney last year. That evening, he tore the Wallabies apart with his running game but also threw two needlessly audacious one-handed passes when the line was beckoning to blow certain tries.
And because of this propensity he has, to occasionally try to thrill the crowd instead of appease his coach, McKenzie has been in and out of the All Blacks’ starting XV and match-day 23 for the past decade.
He’s been bumped between fullback and first five-eighths – coaches simultaneously wowed and exasperated by him.
Yet despite all this, McKenzie has signed to stay in New Zealand for another four years.
He’s signed, despite enduring what was arguably an ego-crushing 2024. He started that test season as new coach Scott Robertson’s preferred No 10, only to suffer what was a public fall from grace when he was replaced by Beauden Barrett mid-season.
Robertson, like Ian Foster and Sir Steve Hansen before him, was drawn to McKenzie’s innate ability to skip past defenders and use his fast feet to dance through heavy traffic, but also like Foster and Hansen before him, Robertson lost faith in his playmaker’s game management and ability to adhere to a pre-agreed kicking strategy.
The pain of being dropped last year was made that much more acute for McKenzie as it came just as New Zealand Rugby and Robertson were ramping up their efforts to persuade Richie Mo’unga to not see out the full three years of his Toshiba contract.
The messaging could hardly have been clearer, and it was no surprise to learn that McKenzie, who was off contract at the end of this year, was being linked with various clubs in Japan.
Who could blame him for having a look – for thinking about getting out of Dodge in favour of a less stressful life in Japan where his talents would be universally appreciated.
But McKenzie and his advisory team waited to see whether the audacious bid to bring Mo’unga home would work.
And when it didn’t, and the former All Black announced he was staying in Japan until 2026, McKenzie committed to another four years in New Zealand.
The man knows how to hang in there and now that he has decided to stay, the inevitable question arises as to what capacity he’ll be involved and what role he’ll play for the All Blacks.
The answer, it seems, is that he’s destined, for the next three years at least, to continue to be in and out of the starting team – a trusted 10 one week, a high-impact bench player the next.
It’s not that McKenzie showed zero growth last year when he played at first five for the All Blacks.
Against Ireland in Dublin, in what was the All Blacks’ 12th game of their 14-test season in 2024, McKenzie – standing in for the concussed Barrett – was the level-headed, calm, intensely focused presence the team needed him to be.
He not only poked a few holes in the Irish defence with his intelligent running, but he turned them and forced them to play from areas they didn’t want to be in with the accuracy of his kicking game that was considered and coherent.
Robertson was ecstatic and made sure to praise McKenzie both for his brilliance that night and take the opportunity to additionally tout his little maestro as the best impact player in the world.
It was a sign that Robertson wants to keep hedging his bets with McKenzie – try to grow him as a rounded, tactically astute 10 by giving him occasional starts, while utilising him as a high-impact bench player to give the All Blacks some punch and zip later in tests.
It’s a sensible plan, that alludes to Robertson’s admiration for McKenzie and continued uncertainty about him.
It also hints at the likely options Robertson will have at his disposal at different times of this cycle, as Mo’unga has said he wants to play at the 2027 World Cup and is likely coming back to New Zealand in 2026, and Barrett is also committed to the Blues for the next three seasons.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.
