The All Blacks have committed to Beauden Barrett as their primary No 10, with Damian McKenzie as back-up.
Barrett’s performances have solidified his position, showcasing his skill and game management.
McKenzie is viewed as a high-impact bench player, with Richie Mo’unga’s return uncertain.
A year ago, the new All Blacks coaching group didn’t have a clear idea about where Beauden Barrett fitted into their plans.
If they are honest, they may even say they weren’t sure if Barrett was part of their long-term plan at all.
The big hope was thatafter a commanding Super Rugby Pacific campaign, Damian McKenzie would slip seamlessly into the All Blacks No 10 jersey and develop into a multi-skilled, disciplined, mature game manager and devilish playmaker over the next four years.
McKenzie had eight consecutive tests at first five-eighths, with Barrett starting life under head coach Scott Robertson first as an impact player off the bench, then as a fullback, before being asked to start at No 10 in the return Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington.
Maybe two truths explain that journey: one being that Robertson and his coaching team lost a little faith in McKenzie, whose game management was an erratic mix, because he just didn’t have a good tactical read on how to balance his kick-pass-run portfolio.
And, secondly, not only did Barrett surprise with the way he made such a telling contribution every time he played, but an inexperienced coaching group also came to realise that his influence within the squad was pervasive and invaluable.
Beauden Barrett's game management makes him a strong long-term contender for the All Blacks No 10 jersey. Photo / Photosport
Again, if there was a process of full disclosure, Robertson might admit that he just didn’t fully appreciate this time last year what he had in Barrett.
But he does now, and whatever long-term plan was forming a year ago about which No 10 the team would be built around, Barrett has forced a dramatic rethink. Two tests into the 2025 season, it’s beyond any reasonable doubt the veteran Blues playmaker is the man to whom the All Blacks must commit.
He tormented the French in Wellington with his clever kicking approach, which turned them and forced them to scramble. The week before in Dunedin, he was patient, calm and composed and had a hand in every try the All Blacks scored.
Barrett has looked every inch the natural occupant of the playmaking throne this year. He’s got a firm handle now on where the All Blacks need to be playing to exert pressure, his goalkicking has been almost faultless, and even his passing, which was once technically awkward, is conducted in one flowing motion now.
McKenzie may well start this last test against France at No 10, but this will be an exercise in continuing his professional development rather than a bona fide opportunity for him to knock Barrett off his perch.
The days of McKenzie and Barrett going head-to-head for the No 10 position are effectively over. Not in a live, all-on-the-line kind of way as it was last year.
The external messaging this week will be all about competition for places and building depth, but the pecking order has been almost indelibly inked, and it goes Barrett at one, McKenzie at two.
Barrett has proven in the past 18 months, and indeed with his whole body of work dating back to 2012, that he is the better international No 10.
He has a breadth of skills that McKenzie can’t quite match and an innate understanding of how to strategically manage and adapt a game plan.
McKenzie is arguably, alongside South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe, world rugby’s most exciting player. But he’s 30 now and it’s a forlorn hope that he will develop into being the astute game manager that the No 10 role requires at the highest level.
The gap between Barrett and McKenzie is too great to be bridged between now and October 2027, primarily because the former, as long as he is fit, will win most of the game time this year, which inevitably creates a perpetuating narrative to keep picking him.
Beauden Barrett (left) and Damian McKenzie bring different skills to the playmaker role.
And come July next year, the All Blacks will be starting to narrow into World Cup mode, looking to refine established combinations and ingrain their attacking patterns, which, again, intensifies the rationale to keep Barrett at No 10.
What it means is that McKenzie is now most likely viewed as part insurance policy in case Barrett breaks down, and part wild card option to shift into the No 10 position later in tests when the coaches think a bit of harum-scarum may be the order of the day at first receiver.
McKenzie is mostly seen as a high-impact bench player – a magical imp who can skip past tiring defenders and ignite the All Blacks from the backfield.
In New Zealand, there remains a fixation with the starting team. Because of that neither the media nor the public fully understand the importance of being able to effectively utilise the match-day 23.
No side wins the big games these days without a heavy contribution from the bench, and McKenzie was rated last year by Robertson as the best impact player in the world, suggesting the coaching group like having him in No 23 because they value the importance of the contribution he can make in that role.
There is of course the spectre of Richie Mo’unga hanging over this equation, but even if the former Crusader does return from Japan in June next year – and that is not certain by any means – can he really be installed as the All Blacks’ chief playmaker just 12 months before the World Cup?
He’s an incredible talent, but there will be an inevitable adjustment period for him as he acclimatises to the speed and intensity of rugby in New Zealand and not much time to prove that it would make sense to install him and oust Barrett.
If Barrett’s All Blacks future was uncertain a year ago, he has changed his fate and has illuminated his pathway to 2027.
