The Ireland tactic the All Blacks are likely to deploy against Springboks

Will Jordan has offered a detailed insight into a quirk in the All Blacks‘ attack, inspired by Ireland, which is likely to feature against the Springboks’ rush defence over the coming weeks on the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.

The star outside back, who recently took the crown for most tries scored in All Blacks history, appeared on the first episode of the All Blacks’ new Inside The Black Jersey podcast, which premiered ahead of this weekend’s Test series opener in Johannesburg, and talked through how some of his most famous tries came about.

But it was his contribution to a linebreak against Italy last month that generated the most detailed analysis. Podcast host and former All Black Brad Weber highlighted Jordan’s decision to leave his right wing in the 64th minute and track across to the left side, where he started his running line on Damian McKenzie’s hip before delivering an offload to Josh Moorby for the break.

Jordan then talked through why he decided to leave his wing in the moment and how the back three work together to create linebreak opportunities.

“In the past, the term ‘two-sided attack’ was used, where you’ve got to load up both sides to stretch the defence. I think over the last three or four years, and the last two years in particular, it’s started to change to overloading, so guys working from one side of the field to the other to create overlaps or mismatches,” Jordan explained.

“So you’re first looking if there’s any space in front of you, and if not, then the next job is to get on your bike and work the other side.

“What’s key there, which you wouldn’t really see, is Damian giving me a little cue to come and get on his outside, so as that guy coming across, you know where to go and where to inject yourself. From there, I was able to get outside Damian and create that overlap.

“I guess it’s a cool thing when you’re getting that ball transferred from wing to wing. And Josh does that particularly well as well. Him coming in, I’ve been hugely impressed with the way he works. Quite a similar player to me in one sense, the way he operates. So I guess that’s made us pretty interchangeable as a back three, and Damian’s a great man linking it all together.”

Diving into further detail when asked about his positioning right in McKenzie’s “back pocket” as opposed to occupying the space outside him, Jordan said the spacing tactic is one the All Blacks picked up when analysing Ireland’s attack.

“I think you want to try and isolate that defensive winger a bit,” he said. “So, if you can have real separation between the last player in the line and your second-to-last player, then you’re forcing the defender to make a decision: does he stay out to stay on Josh, or is he going to come all the way in to get to me? Which opens up the opportunity to throw that longer bridge pass over the top.

“So I think as a general rule, the tighter you can be, the more effective you can be in that space. And it gives the ball player options to be able to go to the line more, knowing he’s got a short pass there.

“I think Ireland do it particularly well; it’s something we got a little bit from them, the tightness of their shape, how connected their forwards and backs are; there’s always guys in sync.”