Cream of the crop McKenzie and Barrett show benefit from New Zealand's fields of dreams

This week's column is being compiled slightly differently.

- Robert Kitson

Damian McKenzie goes over for a try against Scotland after some impressive body contortions BRUCE WHITE/COLORSPORT/ SHUTTERSTOCK

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 latter 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 the spatial awareness and body contortions that enabled him to elude Blair Kinghorn and George Turner and somehow score in the left corner.

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. At the weekend, in addition to his support running off the ball and deceptive strength in fending off Kinghorn, there was also a 50-22 to admire in a sparkling cameo effort that duly earned him the man of the match award.