'Two best fullbacks in the world': Why Rennie moved Will Jordan back to the wing

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie revealed that discussions have been in the works for months around Will Jordan’s move back to the right wing for the All Blacks.

The move was floated to Jordan during his visit to the Crusaders earlier this year, with Rennie sharing his vision for how the All Blacks will play which involved plenty of touches for Jordan regardless of the number on his back.

Damian McKenzie, who played a lot of fullback under Rennie at the Chiefs early in his career, has been named at No.15 with Caleb Clarke and Will Jordan on the flanks.

Rennie had high praise for McKenzie and Jordan who he assesesed as “the world’s best” at the back, making it imperative to get both on the field.

“Two best fullbacks in the world, both on the field at same time,” Rennie said of the reason behind the selection.

“I spoke to Will, maybe a couple of months ago, when I was down here with the Crusaders. Spoke to him about fullback versus wing, and he said, ‘Oh, a couple of years ago he would have always said fullback.’

“Now he’s happy with either, I think, type of game that will play. He’ll get his hands on the ball a lot, and having a couple of guys in the backfield with that sort of skill set, great area, really excellent kicking games.

“Optimistic, we’ll have a crack when it’s on, that’s really exciting for us.

With no back up first five on the bench, Rennie confirmed that McKenzie will be the second option behind Ruben Love while Will Jordan is extra fullback cover.

“Damien’s covering 10, Will will cover 15, but exciting to have both those guys on the park,” he said.

Hurricanes pair Billy Proctor and Fehi Fineanganofo are the outside cover on the bench, which means either McKenzie or Jordan could play 80 minutes if they are required to cover.

The temptation to select Fehi was there after his excellent season with the Hurricanes, but with the French expected to bring an aerial bombardment, Caleb Clarke’s aerial skills have been preferred.

“He’s [Fineanganofo] been excellent. Obviously, we’re expecting a lot of contestable kicking from the French. Caleb Clarke’s excellent going both ways, with Will and Damien in the backfield, we felt that was the best mix for the French.”

Missing from the gameday 23 was veteran Beauden Barrett who Rennie was super impressed with in camp, having not coached him before.

Rennie confirmed Barrett has offered a lot of leadership during the preparation and it was a “tough” call to let him know he wasn’t playing.

A key for Rennie has been instilling the mindset of playing to score, from anywhere on the field, so the mentality within the squad has been skewed toward optimism.

“I think playing with optimism is as a mindset around ‘how do you score from here?’ so I want us…  you know if the opposition spill a ball or we get an advantage five minutes from our line, we’re thinking ‘how do we score from here?’

“But optimism is also around your work ethic, so if we’re optimistic, we’ll get people back and get people into position quickly, so you can play.”