Damian McKenzie has made sure to give All Blacks coach Ian Foster plenty to ponder as the side head into the quarterfinals after he lit up the stage versus Uruguay, scoring two tries and dishing out just as many assists as he puts his hand up for a starting spot in the knockout stages.
Producing a stellar display off the bench versus Italy last week, McKenzie continued his form against the South Americans at fullback scoring the match opening try before he had the crowd on their feet after he gathered a bouncing ball one-handed and flicked it inside for Will Jordan’s first of two tries.
McKenzie could have had a third to his name after he skipped over the line early in the match if not for the TMO spotting a neck-grab by Richie Mo’unga, but he’d finally succeed in bashing down the door in the 20th minute.
Every touch from the fullback was gold, as he showed his class and was part of everything good the All Blacks produced before he made his mark again when he easily slotted in at fly-half once Mo’unga left the field.
No doubt it will give Foster headaches with Beauden Barrett and McKenzie both vying for the starting fullback jersey as the side gets to the pointy end of the tournament.
So too will the All Blacks’ patchy start to the clash where they failed to fire with inaccuracies hindering their game.
Uruguay of course needs to be congratulated for their efforts in disrupting the All Blacks flow in the opening quarter as they tore into the impossible task of stopping New Zealand on their way to a quarterfinal berth. Without fear they crashed into tackles and showed smarts with their use of the ball. Mauel Ardao was just inches away from scoring the opener for Los Teros but was narrowly forced into touch.
But it was simple errors from the All Blacks that saw them forced to work for the match-opening try. An early knock-on from Cam Roigard denied the first score, while Mo’unga’s neck-grab denied another as inaccuracies riddled their game. From the 20th minute on everything started to click and with 11 tries in the bag and a quarterfinal place booked, it’s unlikely any of Ireland, South Africa or Scotland would be keen to face them next week.
“It was a really enjoyable game, pretty free-flowing. It took us a long time to breakdown Uruguay to be honest, they defended so well,” man of the match McKenzie said.
“But we managed to put some points on the board so I’m so proud of the lads. We’ve got to where we want to be, now we want to get better and move on to the quarters. I’m really excited for the week to come.”
