The All Blacks face a DMac dilemma

When Cameron Smith retired, I felt a rare sense of sympathy for the television company.

Despite incredible team success with Melbourne Storm, Queensland and Australia, Smith’s career was lacking in individual highlights.

Sure, he had a slip while kicking a conversion against the Roosters, a couple of short throws and wrestling, but Smith wasn’t one to physically tear defenses apart.

Shaun Johnson had no trouble putting together some great footage after playing his final game of rugby league for the Warriors.

Blessed with speed, excellent stepping skills and superb kicking and passing ability, Johnson enjoyed a glittering 14-year career in the NRL.

Johnson will be credited with inspiring a generation of backyard football players, much like Benji Marshall before him.

But unlike Smith, Johnson didn’t lead his team to many victories.

They won against Australia in the 2014 Four Nations final and then nothing else.

Here I’m going to talk about Damien McKenzie.

He wasn’t that bad during the All Blacks’ two-test tour of South Africa. In fact, on a personal note, most of the New Zealand players did pretty well.

Just as you might have guessed, they have failed to win either of their matches against the Springboks. Add to this their modest form at home this season, a 38-30 defeat to Argentina, and a clear pattern of unsatisfactory results is emerging.

McKenzie has done a great job during his testing season and will look good when he compiles his highlights package in the coming years. However, on current evidence, he too will likely retire without a bloody victory.

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Oh, but don’t worry All Blacks fans, there are rumours that MacKenzie is considering a move to France.

Leaving aside the fact that no manager in this country has ever made him a match manager, La Rochelle’s Ronan O’Gara could do it in a matter of weeks, provided MacKenzie breaks into the top 14 in a year or so.

This is the madness that has made All Blacks rugby what it is today.

We expect someone to show up with a magic wand and make certain players better, but we ignore the growing evidence that the problem may simply be with the players themselves.

Like Johnson, MacKenzie is tasked with winning team games. With everyone else doing the heavy lifting, a high-priced playmaker can be the icing on the cake.

Winning games can be a tedious and methodical task, as Smith has proven throughout his career: isolating weak defenders five or six times until the seventh proves the charm.

Field position, ball control, tackling efficiency. Not very exciting, but history has proven that they are incredibly effective.

The All Blacks have worked hard over the past two weeks. They have been physical and have won important penalties, but have been let down by their average goal-kicking and inability to get out of their own half.

One of the most frustrating aspects of all this is that the Springboks were not very good. Their lineout was a mess, they pushed passes and conceded penalties, but the All Blacks were unable to punish them.

The Springboks played sloppy, defending when necessary and were confident they could finish the game off in the final 15 minutes, but New Zealand were not so confident.

(Photo courtesy of Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

If South Africa can hold their own for 80 minutes or field a best 15 for the second week in a row, heaven help the All Blacks. If the Springboks can make multiple substitutions against the All Blacks without worrying about it affecting the result, the great player has really fallen apart.

Of course, New Zealand’s next opponent is Australia.

The excuse for losing to the Springboks is that they are world champions and this is a young and inexperienced All Blacks team. It seems quite old to me, but that is not the story the team’s apologists peddle.

But there are only two trophies that matter in New Zealand rugby: the Rugby World Cup and the Bledisloe Cup.

There are still a lot of people who are delusional about believing that competing with South Africa for an hour is an achievement. I think we should be kind and measure it in other ways than beating or losing to the All Blacks.

But imagine if the Bledisloe Cup is not retained. Imagine if the Wallabies display the same inability to finish games as Argentina and South Africa have shown so far this season.

So what are we going to do? What new excuse are we going to make for it?

Is it New Zealand rugby’s fault? Is it Scott Robertson’s fault? Is it Super Rugby’s fault? Is it the lack of scoring in junior rugby?

Or will we finally admit that some players, no matter how good they are, just don’t know how to win?