'Uncanny resemblance’: Will Jordan sees similarities to All Black in debutant

Lee, who plays his rugby for Tasman in the Bunnings NPC competition, powered his way over the line on two occasions, providing massive impact for the Crusaders after their disappointing defeat last week against long-time rivals, the Blues.

Lee’s first try was on the back of some solid work by the Crusaders forwards, setting a strong platform at lineout time.

The debutant took the ball off the back, fired a short ball to Ethan Blackadder who then returned the favour by offloading the ball to Lee who went in for his first Super Rugby Pacific try.

Will Jordan, who was the stand-in captain for the Crusaders after David Havili went down, mentioned a moment during the week about Lee and Blackadder that made him realise some similarities.

Lee and Blackadder are both loose-forwards, with an ability to play on multiple positions in the back row, while playing for the same NPC and Super Rugby franchises.

“Yeah I saw them standing beside each other during a meeting the other day, it is a bit of an uncanny resemblance, but nah Johnny’s a guy who just goes about his work, gets stuck into it, and like Penney said, he’s been hugely impressive,” Jordan told reporters in Christchurch.

“Yeah he doesn’t shy away from anything so an 80-minute first game is a decent shift in a southern derby.”

Lee’s head coach, Penney, knows that after that performance, the 22-year-old Tasman loose-forward will be hard to leave out going forward.

“He got over the ball a couple of times, yeah, like he’s a kid that’s been around through the system, New Zealand U20s, had a really nice year for Tasman last year.

“Came into the season with a bit of an injury, unfortunately, so had a slower start, but has played really well for the Crusaders development 15, and deserved his selection.

“He’ll be very hard to leave out. It’s a credit to the young man, and it’s exciting for the organisation.”