Damian McKenzie ‘unsure’ and ‘deflated’ as Israel Dagg left ‘nervous’ by current state of traditional All Blacks strength

Israel Dagg is concerned by the All Blacks’ playmaking situation following their 3-0 series victory over France.

Despite emerging triumphant over Les Bleus, it was certainly not perfect from Scott Robertson’s men as they were put under pressure at times by a severely understrength French outfit.

Dagg is particularly worried by their situation at half-back after the performances of Chiefs duo Cortez Ratima and Damian McKenzie on Saturday.

Cam Roigard and Beauden Barrett combined for the first two matches before Ratima was given an opportunity with Roigard rested.

McKenzie may well have played anyway but Barrett’s hand injury meant he was always going to feature in the third and final Test.

Dagg not convinced

It was a display which did not convince the former New Zealand back, however, and has left him worried about the All Blacks’ depth at 10.

“Now Beaudy Barrett’s out, we don’t know how long for. Damian still looks for me a little bit unsure, he looks deflated, maybe trying a bit too hard and outside of that there’s no one else,” he said on Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy show.

“You’ve got Ruben Love, who had his first start at 15; is he a genuine option to go into 10 or do you look outside of this team if Beaudy is not available?

“Do we look for a Rivez Reihana? There are still some decisions out there where I’m not quite sure.”

Dagg is similarly concerned about the scrum-half slot and feels that there is a significant drop-off if Roigard does not play.

It is a situation the All Blacks are perhaps not used to having regularly produced top-class playmakers over the years.

“At nine, if Cam Roigard goes down, how do we feel? I’m nervous. Cortez, yes he’s very good with ball in hand but his kicking game needs a whole lot of work, bar that moment when he set up Will Jordan,” he said.

“Outside of that, we’ve only got one option and that’s going back to the 10 because his box-kicks are a little bit too long, they’re just not on the money for our chasers.

“Noah Hotham is a very good player but he went down with an injury so there’s still some concern there with me in certain positions.”

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All Blacks positives

Despite those doubts, Dagg did think that there were more positives than negatives for head coach Scott Robertson, who has given a shot to several rookies.

Robertson appears to have built some depth over the past few weeks and that was shown when injuries forced his hand.

“A lot of these young players would have been under so much pressure, and particularly before the game where Luke Jacobson goes down and Christian Lio-Willie’s thrown on the bench with Du’Plessis Kirifi starting a Test match,” Dagg added.

“There was a lot of those situations that put a lot of pressure on this group and they would have been rattled from the outset. You could see it in the set plays.

“Du’Plessis Kirifi was in the majority of the lineout specials and just wasn’t quite getting those combinations right.

“The ball was going to ground and the French kick it down and they’re under pressure. For them to find a way and build resilience [is a positive].”

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