All Blacks centurion makes bold selection calls for fly-half and back three slots to match England’s ‘aerial’ game

Former All Blacks star Mils Muliaina doesn’t believe that Damian McKenzie should have the fly-half shirt for the first Test against England.

The 29-year-old is favourite to take the jersey after the spot opened up following the Rugby World Cup due to Richie Mo’unga’s departure.

Mo’unga has moved to Japan on a three-year contract, leaving McKenzie and Beauden Barrett to fight it out heading into the 2024 Test season.

Centurion

Barrett is the more experienced player having earned well over 100 caps for the national team, but the Chiefs playmaker has been in superb form over the past two years.

He is expected to be in that position come Saturday but Muliaina thinks that swapping those two around would work better for the All Blacks.

“A lot of it will be determined by who plays at full-back. They might play Damian McKenzie at full-back and put Barrett at 10. That’s definitely an option,” he said on The Breakdown.

Part of Muliaina’s thinking revolved around the make-up of his back three as he looks to counter England’s kicking game.

For the ex-full-back, that means leaving out Mark Tele’a, who had a brilliant Rugby World Cup, and Sevu Reece.

“If you’re looking at aerial skills, the one guy that’s been very good in the air is Caleb Clarke, and then put (Emoni) Narawa (on the other wing),” he added.

“Experience is key and (playing) big matches. He’s (Barrett) well refreshed from Japan. Last year I said he should be at full-back and he did end up playing full-back.

“I think now, with the way he is and his calm influence, he plays 10 and put McKenzie at the back, to fill the void with Will Jordan out.”

Disagreement

Muliaina did not find support from Sir John Kirwan, with the ex-All Blacks wing insisting that it is McKenzie’s time to step into that role for the 2024 Test campaign.

“There’s absolutely no way. You’ve got to say if Damian is your 10, ‘it’s your football team.’ Beauden has played at full-back, he hasn’t played at 10 for a little while,” he said.

“He can play at full-back at Test level coming back from Japan but I think you’ve got to go to your first five, ‘it’s your team brother, here we go.’ Damian’s been playing enough there, and I just can’t see it happening.”

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