McKenzie, Lolesio and the battle to shift rugby's court of public opinion

While the All Blacks and Wallabies won't meet in the Bledisloe Cup for a couple of months yet, having locked horns with their Rugby Championship rivals beforehand, one narrative has already brought them together this year.

Make that two, in fact, when you consider both teams have new coaches at the helm, albeit with vastly different knowledge bases of their respective roles. Scott Robertson, of course, has spent the past eight years preparing himself for an eventual step up to Test rugby with the All Blacks. But had it not been for the Eddie Jones fiasco, then Joe Schmidt probably never even comes into the equation as a Wallabies coach, let alone be parachuted in with the brief to rescue the game in Australia.

The rugby world can work in mysterious ways, certainly in Australia at least.

But while Robertson and Schmidt have contrasting squad depth to call on, with various strengths and weaknesses, they face a similar challenge at No. 10, specifically if the man they've tagged for the job is up to the task.

In New Zealand, for the moment, that man is Damian McKenzie. The Chiefs playmaker has been one of the most devastating attacking players in Super Rugby, first at fullback through his early years, and now at fly-half, the position where he dominated as a schoolboy.

The question remains however if McKenzie can deliver, let alone dominate, at Test level.

Anyone who watched the first half of Bledisloe II in Dunedin last year will have their reservations that is possible, those fears only amplified by his mixed outing against England in the same city last week.

Being timed out on a penalty goal was certainly embarrassing, but such has been the reaction to that indiscretion that it has almost been overlooked McKenzie laid on the All Blacks' first try with a superb cross-field kick to Sevu Reece.

And rather than seek to deflect the responsibility for the penalty mistake, there McKenzie was in the hours that followed New Zealand's one-point win, completely owning the error and admitting he simply needed to be better.

While goal-kicking shot clocks will be in place at Eden Park, you can guarantee McKenzie has been working to time at training this week.

"He's an incredible pro," Robertson said of McKenzie on Thursday. "He works tirelessly on his craft and wants to own his position in the team and how he drives it, so he's been great."

But no matter how much Robertson feels McKenzie is the man for right now, it's hard to see how Mo'unga won't be back in black next year given he is already casting a shadow over every move McKenzie makes.

For while the current All Blacks No. 10 was mixing the good with the bad in Dunedin, there was the man he replaced watching on from the Forsyth-Barr stands.

That is a tough position for McKenzie to be in; all he can do between now and whenever it is that Mo'unga returns is prove he is up to the Test rugby task at No. 10, and that the Crusaders legend simply won't be able to waltz back into the starting side.

Across the ditch, the Wallabies have once again turned to Noah Lolesio. The Brumbies playmaker was first thrust into Test rugby by Dave Rennie in a Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney, learning the hard way just how big the step up to international rugby really is.

In and then out, in and then out again. And again. You could have forgiven Lolesio for packing up his kit bag for good and staying in Toulon, where he enjoyed a World Cup joker stint late last year, given his treatment since 2020. But where Carter Gordon decided he was done with Australian rugby, for now, Lolesio decided he had unfinished business and was rewarded with the No. 10 jersey by Schmidt last week.

And while it was far from the perfect performance, Lolesio, too, enjoyed several fine moments as the Wallabies began their own new era with a morale-boosting 25-16 win.

The issue is, however, that given his previous efforts in the same jersey, our eyes have us seeing the bad more boldy, rather than shining a light on the good.

So as it was with McKenzie's goal-kicking error, Lolesio's knock-on from a simple pass, just moments after he had missed a similarly rudimentary penalty goal, stood out like a steak on an vegetarian menu.

And where McKenzie nailed his cross-kick, Lolesio overshot his all-or-nothing attempt to Kellaway, spurning a three-on-two opportunity in the process and the five points that went with it.

But midway through the week, flyover vision of Filipo Daugunu's try made its way onto social media, with Lolesio's organization and cut-out pass finally awarded the praise it deserved.

There was praise, too, from Schmidt post-match after Lolesio effected a vital breakdown turnover that foiled Wales back-rower Adam Wainwright's line-break.