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Analysis: The Crusaders' playbook with Will Jordan has unlimited home run potential
Tasman’s 20-year-old fullback Will Jordan has been elevated to the Crusaders’ starting line-up and he hasn’t missed a beat, bringing his form from Mitre 10 Cup with him into Super Rugby.
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The emerging star gives the already-potent Crusader backline a breakaway threat with ‘home run’ potential from any set-piece platform, which showed against the Chiefs as he clocked up 98-metres on two line breaks, six defenders beaten and two tries, one of which came directly from set-piece.
The Crusaders attack has been gradually increasing the number of misdirection plays they are running off these platforms, having players ‘scram’ in multiple directions to create initial indecision.
Their lineout plays in the red zone, in particular, have evolved into a bamboozling range of strikes using the hooker on a ‘swing’ route after the throw and employing misdirection concepts out of the maul to create a lot of confusing animation for the defence.
These ‘smokescreens’ are freeing up space for damaging threats like Will Jordan.
This stack play from a scrum uses a double-bluff to put Jordan in an ocean of space down the middle by faking left, going right and coming back inside to prey on the Chiefs’ understrength back row. It’s a clever misdirection play designed to get mismatches between a fullback and loose forwards, illustrated below by St Michael’s College in Ireland.
The Crusaders ran the exact same play above, using a 2-2 split on either side with a 2-man stack directly behind the scrum containing Richie Mo’unga (10) and Will Jordan (15).
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On this occasion, Richie Mo’unga is the first man in the stack to reveal his hand, pushing off to the blind side as Ere Enari (9) runs an 8-9 to the open side. Mo’unga’s dummy line will hopefully pull Chiefs halfback Brad Weber and members of the back row his way to create more isolation on the open side.
The stack causes issues with the pre-play defensive alignment of the Chiefs, with the first defenders on either side of the scrum defending space, not any particular man. On the open side, Damian McKenzie is positioned defending no one but space.
This can lead to two players taking the same man as they try to decipher which runners to take, which happens here as this play develops.
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From the 8-9, Enari plays Ryan Crotty (12) to the open side and chases the ball on a wrap-line with Number 8 Whetu Douglas (8).
Only Lachlan Boshier (7) of the Chiefs has a decent break from the back of the scrum for the Chiefs. Taleni Seu (8) is still stationary which will create problems. As Boshier pushes wider in pursuit of Enari, he will only widen the gap for the incoming Jordan on the inside.
Boshier (7) and McKenzie (10) have both pursued Crotty while Jordan is able to explode onto the inside ball and expose the soft underbelly of the Chiefs’ back row.
He races away downfield before stepping inside the cover defence of Solomon Alaimalo and scores in the tackle of the next defender.
The damage Jordan can cause in open space was evident against the Queensland Reds on his starting debut, with his searing pace scorching the Suncorp turf in an impressive showing. The combination of his speed and line running nous adds another dimension to the Crusaders backline that has untold amounts of potential.
If there was a missing element to their backs, Jordan brings it. A hole-running fullback with burning speed, he will have a field day this season outside centre Jack Goodhue and playmakers like Richie Mo’unga when he is on the field.
He will have to compete in the rotation with David Havili, George Bridge, Manasa Mataele, Braydon Ennor, Israel Dagg, and Sevu Reece for game time, while 19-year-old Leicester Fainga’anuku and 20-year-old Ngani Punivai are age grade talents waiting to get a sniff in. The depth in the back three for the Crusaders is so good it should be illegal.
The Crusaders have gotten stronger this season with the introduction of their next generation of players, all of whom were produced through their system after being ID’d in various places. They all seem to have adapted to this level like fish to water, showing that this Crusaders’ dynasty still has a long runway ahead.
The addition of Will Jordan gives the Crusaders attack a dynamic fullback that increases the likelihood of any set-piece being a ‘one-phase’ strike, should they call plays with the intention of trying to score. With their shiny new toy in the 15 jersey, expect to see many more ‘home-run’ opportunities.
This is the last thing every other Super Rugby team trying to topple the back-to-back champions wanted to see, but the Crusaders have found new pieces to keep this team firing.
Brad Mooar ahead of Highlanders’ derby:
Comments on RugbyPass
If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
23 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
23 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to comments