Damian McKenzie puts Super Rugby pain behind him as race for No 10 jersey heats up
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Damian McKenzie can’t escape the reminders - not when he’s surrounded by Hurricanes players in All Blacks camp.
But, as the 74-test veteran reiterated a few times after training in Christchurch on Tuesday, he simply has to move on from yet more Super Rugby finals pain - and quickly.
Perhaps easier said than done when there’s 11 Hurricanes in the All Blacks squad on the back of their barely believable 60-5 annihilation of the Chiefs in the decider less than a fortnight ago.
That, of course, includes Ruben Love, one of the blokes McKenzie is competing against for first shot in the No 10 jersey when the All Blacks kickoff the Nations Championship against France at One New Zealand Stadium on Saturday night.
“They're good, they're humble blokes. They've got the one up for the year, but those boys deserved everything they got, they had an awesome year,” McKenzie said.
“But once you're in the All Blacks squad, you put everything aside in terms of Super Rugby. We're one team, we've all got a focus together as a group, and that's the first test against the French.”
McKenzie and the All Blacks trained at Christ’s College on Tuesday, the school where the 31-year-old flourished and attracted the attention of Chiefs scouts more than a decade ago.
Standing on the edge of the field where he recalled chasing down All Blacks teammate and Christchurch Boys’ High School old boy Anton Lienert-Brown, McKenzie looked a million bucks in comparison to the aftermath of the Chiefs’ fourth straight defeat in a final.
Not that it was easy to move on from both the result and his own clunker of a performance, which featured charged down kicks, botched restarts and intercept passes.
“But as a bit more of a mature player now, you've got to be able to move on from that disappointment. It can be hard, but we've got a good group of players here where we've got an exciting opportunity this week to come up against a good French side.
“You've just got to move on pretty quickly and surround yourself with the people that are close to you. I was able to go home and spend a bit of time with family, which is great with my boy and my partner. And then getting back into camp, it's always exciting seeing the new faces, seeing the new boys getting an opportunity, new coaches. Just making sure we get back into our work.”
Speaking of work, McKenzie, Love and Beauden Barrett are vying for the much-discussed No 10 jersey to kickoff the Dave Rennie era.
Just who the new head coach opts for will be revealed at 4pm on Thursday. Regardless, it will be a big talking point after Barrett started 10 of the All Blacks’ 13 tests at first five-eighth a year ago under Scott Robertson.
McKenzie started just three tests in the No 10 jersey and one at fullback, and was predominantly used as a substitute.
As for Love, fresh from leading the Hurricanes to the title, there’s no better time than now for the All Blacks to find out if Love can mix it at test level, meaning he should get a good shot against France, Italy and Ireland.
“Very [impressed]. He's a good player, he's playing some great rugby, he's had a great season, an exciting player,” McKenzie said of Love, 25.
“It's been nice to be able to link up with him. Even though he's still so young, he shows a lot of experience and maturity for his age, we saw that throughout the year.”
Regardless of what McKenzie’s role is under the roof, and moving forward a decade after debuting for the All Blacks, he lights up at the prospect of being unleashed by a new coaching staff which includes new attack coach Mike Blair.
“I think it's just a mind set thing, a bit of optimism around our counter-attack, our turnover ball, and just making sure we are getting our eyes up the field and seeing opportunities. And when it's on to play, we play,” he said.
“For me, that's a great thing, I love playing that style of rugby. You've definitely got to be fit, there's nowhere you can hide, that's for sure.”