"It's not easy to type while looking upwards and smiling warmly at the bookshelf but, hey, that's the price to be paid for method sportswriting. When you're putting together a piece on Damian McKenzie, the All Blacks' so-called smiling assassin, it's important to try to get into character. The head bandage took time to apply as well, as did the fake-blood drizzle of ketchup down the cheek."
"Anyone who watched the later stages of New Zealand's win against Scotland on television on Saturday, however, will appreciate why the extra touches felt appropriate. It is not every day a player preparing to kick the clinching points in a major Test resembles a happy, beaten prizefighter. There was also the spectacular nature of the aforementioned DMac's 74th-minute try, which enabled the All Blacks to avoid a potentially grisly fate at Murrayfield."
"To call it well taken would be to understate massively the spatial awareness and body contortions that enabled him to elude Blair Kinghorn and George Turner and somehow score in the left corner. So much for the theoretical laws of physics. All of which prompted a couple of post-match reflections. The first is the priceless value of a playmaker who can come on in this case for the injured Caleb Clarke and reshape a game."
Method sportswriting included dressing with a head bandage and fake-blood ketchup to mirror Damian McKenzie’s on-field persona. New Zealand’s late win over Scotland featured McKenzie preparing to kick clinching points while resembling a happy, beaten prizefighter. His 74th-minute try displayed extraordinary spatial awareness and body contortions to elude Blair Kinghorn and George Turner and score in the left corner. McKenzie’s support running, deceptive strength and a brilliant 50-22 earned him man of the match. Both McKenzie and Beauden Barrett remain key entertainers whose presence has kept New Zealand rugby vibrant despite criticism.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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