Damian McKenzie: from a Southland dairy farm to the All Blacks' smiling playmaker

Damian McKenzie grew up on a 1,000-acre dairy farm near Waikaka in Southland, throwing a ball around with his big brother. Rugby took him to Christ's College, the Chiefs, Tokyo and 83 Tests for the All Blacks, at fullback and first five-eighth. On RUGBE's records his 423 Test points are the sixth most by any All Black, he is the Chiefs' leading points scorer and try-scorer, and in 2024 he was named first five in World Rugby's Dream Team. Before every shot at goal, he smiles.

Where he comes from

Damian Sinclair McKenzie was born in Invercargill on 20 April 1995, the son of dairy farmers, and went to Edendale primary school. "We had the farm to run around on and were always outside," he told the Guardian in 2017.

Sport ran in the family. His father played fullback for Southland and the Junior All Blacks, and his mother played hockey. "There's a bit of speed in that side of the family," he said. Through his mother he has Māori heritage, with Ngāti Tūwharetoa bloodlines, according to the NZ Herald. His older brother, Marty McKenzie, became a first five-eighth for Taranaki, and the two brothers would one day play together for the Māori All Blacks.

Christ's College

McKenzie went north to board at Christ's College in Christchurch. He was a school prefect, head of his boarding house and captain of the First XV, playing at first five-eighth, the position he had played all his life. In Year 12, in 2012, he was picked for the New Zealand Schools Barbarians side that beat Australian and Samoan Schools, and in 2013 he made New Zealand Secondary Schools. The UC Championship was crowded with talent at the time: Richie Mo'unga was at St Andrew's College across town.

Waikato and the under 20s

After school he moved to Hamilton, where he played his club rugby for Waikato University. In 2014 he made his debut for Waikato and was named the union's Emerging Representative Player of the Year.

That winter he played for New Zealand Under 20 at the Junior World Championship in New Zealand, alongside Mo'unga. He had always been a first five, but that was the year he moved to fullback. The skills were much the same, he said later, but "you've got a bit more time at 15". The NZ Rugby Museum describes him as a standout at the tournament, where New Zealand finished third, and he was named New Zealand Rugby's age-grade player of the year. In August 2014 the Chiefs signed him on a three-year deal.

The Chiefs

He made his Super Rugby debut in 2015, playing 16 games, and Chiefs duty meant he missed the Under 20s' world title campaign that year. The consolation was a call to the Māori All Blacks. In his first game, against Fiji, he scored a try from a cut move with his brother Marty, who was at first five and kicked four from four. "He's a better kicker," Damian joked. "I let him take control and I just sit back and watch."

In 2016 he started every Chiefs game at fullback and scored ten tries and 199 points, second only to Israel Folau in tries and to Beauden Barrett in points. In 2018, playing first five, he was named Super Rugby's player of the year on the Opta statistical index after beating 74 defenders and scoring 177 points. Then, in April 2019, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee against the Blues in Hamilton, and missed the World Cup in Japan.

He came back in 2020, and in 2021 he settled a run of close games with his boot: a 50-metre penalty in New Zealand rugby's first golden-point extra time to beat the Highlanders 26-23 in Dunedin, then late winning penalties against the Crusaders and the Hurricanes. He finished Super Rugby Aotearoa as the top points scorer. In the Trans-Tasman competition that followed, he was sent off against the Reds for a high tackle on Tate McDermott and banned for three games.

The All Blacks

McKenzie was called into the All Blacks in 2016 as cover for the injured Waisake Naholo, and made his debut off the bench against Argentina in Buenos Aires on 1 October 2016, a 36-17 win. His first start came at fullback in Rome in November, a 68-10 win over Italy.

In 2017 he was left out of the squad for the British and Irish Lions series, and there was talk of a move to Leicester. Instead he started at first five for the Māori All Blacks against the Lions in Rotorua, was called back to the All Blacks as cover when Ben Smith was concussed, and from August started every Test at fullback. He scored his first Test try against Australia in Sydney in August and started all ten of his Tests that year at 15, scoring five tries, including one in Cape Town in a 25-24 win over South Africa and one at Murrayfield in a 22-17 win over Scotland. Wikipedia credits him with the man of the match award in Buenos Aires and Cape Town.

"His speed is ridiculous," said his former Chiefs team-mate James Lowe that year. Steve Hansen had no doubts about his courage either: "He's got plenty under the left nipple."

In June 2018 he made his first Test start at first five, against France in Dunedin, and scored 24 points, two tries and seven conversions, in a 49-14 win. He scored the All Blacks' only try in a 16-15 win over England at Twickenham that November, and a hat-trick in a 66-3 win over Italy in Rome two weeks later.

After the knee injury he was back in the squad in 2020, often from the bench behind Mo'unga and Barrett, and in 2021 he started seven Tests, six at fullback, and scored the first try of the 102-0 win over Tonga.

Tokyo

For 2022 he signed with Tokyo Sungoliath in Japan's League One, which made him ineligible for the All Blacks that year. He played 14 games and scored 218 points, and Sungoliath reached the final before losing 18-12 to the Saitama Wild Knights. He then re-signed with New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs.

Back at the Chiefs in 2023 he played his 100th game for the club, against the Waratahs in Sydney, the ninth Chief to get there. Coach Clayton McMillan said he had "slotted back into the Gallagher Chiefs seamlessly" after his time in Japan. He was the competition's top points scorer in 2023, 2024 and 2025, but the Chiefs lost all three finals: to the Crusaders in Hamilton in 2023, to the Blues in 2024 and to the Crusaders again, 16-12, in 2025.

A World Cup, and the No 10 jersey

At the 2023 World Cup in France, McKenzie scored 26 points against Namibia in Toulouse, two tries and eight conversions, the most he has scored in a Test. He added a try off the bench against Italy and two more against Uruguay, five tries in the pool stage, and came off the bench in the semi-final win over Argentina and the 12-11 final loss to South Africa.

Under Scott Robertson in 2024 he became the first-choice first five. He played all 14 Tests, starting ten at No 10, and scored 143 points on RUGBE's records, the most by any player in Test rugby that year according to the NZ Rugby Museum. In Dublin in November he kicked six penalties for all 18 of the All Blacks' points in a 23-13 win over Ireland, and at the end of the season World Rugby named him first five in its Dream Team of the Year.

In March 2025, despite strong interest from overseas clubs, he signed with New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs until the end of 2029. "I'm extremely motivated to win a Championship with the Chiefs," he said. McMillan said he "influences games the way few people can". In 2025 he was mostly an impact player for the All Blacks, and at Murrayfield in November he came off the bench to score a late try and kick the penalty that sealed a 25-17 win over Scotland.

2026

In April 2026 he scored twice in a 62-17 win over Moana Pasifika in Rotorua to become the Chiefs' leading try-scorer of all time. The Chiefs reached a fourth straight final in June, but the Hurricanes beat them 60-5 in Wellington.

Dave Rennie used him at fullback for the first seven Tests of his tenure, through the July wins over France, Italy and Ireland and the four-Test series in South Africa, where he scored in Cape Town. With Ruben Love and then Mo'unga injured, he moved to first five for the Bledisloe Cup, with Beauden Barrett at fullback, and the All Blacks beat Australia 50-19 at Eden Park and 43-21 in Sydney. "I really like him and Beauden together," Rennie said when the touring squad was named.

Style and standing

The smile before his goal kicks is deliberate, the Guardian's Robert Kitson reported in 2017, a way of keeping his mindset positive. So is his approach to playing against bigger men. "It's a great challenge being small," he told the Guardian. "You need to embrace it."

McMillan, his long-time Chiefs coach, called him "an outstanding footballer" and highlighted the work the public does not see, with young fans in particular: he is often the last player off the field, still signing autographs.

Honours: World Rugby Dream Team 2024; Super Rugby player of the season (Opta) 2018; Super Rugby top points scorer 2023, 2024 and 2025; Rugby World Cup runner-up 2023; Waikato Emerging Representative Player of the Year 2014.

Off the field

McKenzie plays golf off a single-figure handicap, and he has spoken about his claustrophobia with good humour: "If I was trapped in a cupboard I wouldn't last too long."

Where he is now

McKenzie, 31, has been named to start at first five against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday morning New Zealand time, his 84th Test, with Beauden Barrett at fullback and Cam Roigard inside him. Wales and England follow. He is contracted to New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs until the end of 2029, and is in the Chiefs' squad for 2027.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026. Club, provincial, Māori All Blacks and Japan figures are from Wikipedia, updated August 2026.