'Beautiful spot': All Blacks assistant with high praise for star back

He might not have been in his favoured fullback position on the weekend, but All Blacks star Will Jordan continued his run of superb International form with another try in Hamilton.

Jordan was on the end of a fantastic box kick in behind the French defence by Cortez Ratima, sprinting towards the ball and putting it down completely untouched.

Jordan scored in both of the first two Tests against France in July, showcasing his elite try-scoring record that is nearing the best of all time in an All Blacks jersey.

Scott Hansen, one of the All Blacks’ assistant coaches, sees Jordan’s class every week in the All Blacks environment, and he says it’s a privilege to witness it.

‘I’ve had the privilege, like many All Black and royal rugby lovers who are loving the game, to watch a lot of finishers and a lot of fantastic players,” Hansen tells Jason Pine from Newstalk ZB.

“The ultimate privilege for me, really is having the ability and all of us as coaches of coaching someone like Will Jordan, in particular, his anticipation for where the ball will be, his ability to lead out there like a coach and govern the group around where we can be in our attack.”

Hansen acknowledges that Jordan’s still getting better, and his all-around game is improving.

“He’s getting better and better, I believe, and you can just sit back and really enjoy his natural game. It’s a real toughness about his game at the moment, around his carry, his intent and also defensively, and so Will Jordan’s in a beautiful spot.”

When asked about how many positions are still up for grabs in the starting 15 for the All Blacks, Hansen is quick to explain that all positions are still competitive, with lots of players playing well.

“They all should be the competition we need, the competition needs to come from within the group, so when our players are playing well and we’re putting in good performances, that’s the pressure that we need on the group for them to respond,” the All Blacks assistant tells Pine.

“So competition within the group needs to be massive, we’re very lucky at the moment around building some quality depth.

“So if you go from one to 15 at the moment, we feel we’re building some good depth. Yes, we need to continue that, and yes, a lot of positions need some more Tests to continue that growth, but we’re really happy with what we’re building and the growth that we have.”

Hansen isn’t looking too far ahead, but says they can take some confidence from winning the French series 3-0.

“We’re building, we’re building for sure. I think we can take a lot of confidence from the French series, we can take some confidence around areas of our game that have gone well, but now we just need to bring it all together.”