All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens backs Benji Marshall following fierce criticism of code-hopper

ALL Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens has backed under-fire Benji Marshall, rating his performance in rugby so far as a “seven or an eight” out of 10.

Benji Marshall has received support from All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens.

ALL Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens has thrown his support behind under-fire Blues recruit Benji Marshall, rating the code-hopper’s performance so far as a “seven or an eight” out of 10.

Marshall’s performances have been the subject of great debate across the Tasman — particularly in Auckland — with New Zealand Herald journalist Chris Rattue this week calling for an end to the “failed experiment”.

But speaking on Fox Sports Rugby HQ, former All Blacks fly half Mehrtens said Marshall’s efforts hadn’t been anywhere near as bad as Rattue and others had made out.

“Honestly I would say about a seven or an eight,” Mehrtens said when asked to rate Marshall’s performance so far.

News_Image_File: Benji Marshall has the backing of All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens.

“But he really hasn’t had much opportunity, I think (the critics) need to cut him a little bit of slack.

“He’s learning a new game, you know what it’s like. There are a lot of skills that cross over from league to rugby and vice versa, but you’ve got to get the feel of the game.”

Mehrtens said the Blues had made one major mistake in Marshall’s transition — playing him at five-eighth in the pre-season.

“They played him at 10 in pre-season, I think that was a bit unfair on him,” the 70-Test veteran said.

“You don’t want a guy like that who’s just a natural ball-player and a skilled, skilled guy, you don’t want him tied down with organisation or trying to run the rest of the team.

“Give him a bit of freedom, put him at 15 and let him come in. He showed a lot of energy in that first week against the Highlanders. He wants to run angles, once they get used to running off him I think it’ll make a massive difference.”

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Mehrtens acknowledged Marshall’s cross-field running wasn’t working for the Blues, but said it could be successful in time providing his teammates learned what angles to run.

“He wasn’t far off that one time (from breaking through) where he got caught, okay he got caught,” he said.

“But I remember playing against like Carlos Spencer, and he was a genius with the ball in hand.

“But he wasn’t that effective until the other guys started learning how to run off him and react to his play.

News_Image_File: Highlanders captain Ben Smith congratulates Benji Marshall after the Blues’ win last weekend.

“He just needs more game time. Honestly, I think stick with him. Give him more and more time on the field. He may not be a starting XV guy but give him the time on the field and have a bit of patience with him.”

Marshall gets another chance to continue his rugby education on Friday night when the Blues battle the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra.

The former Wests Tigers star has again been named on the bench.