Will Jordan backed to break iconic All Blacks record against Italy

Will Jordan is just three tries away from becoming the All Blacks‘ all-time leading try-scorer, trailing Doug Howlett’s record of 49.

The outside back overtook Joe Rokocoko, Julian Savea and Christian Cullen in the all-time ranks with his two tries against France, also separating himself from teammate Beauden Barrett in the Christchurch win.

Jordan will bring his season tally of 47 tries to Wellington this weekend, and, should he be selected, is in with a chance of creating history, according to one ex-All Black.

“Will’s back to try-scoring; he’ll be on 50 soon,” James Parsons said on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “He’ll get three against Italy.”

Jordan was back on the right wing against France, after two seasons starting almost exclusively at fullback under Scott Robertson. The 28-year-old now has a strike rate of one try per game throughout his 32 games on the wing, while he has scored 11 tries in 16 starts at fullback.

For the Crusaders, he’s scored 49 tries in 73 games, having played fullback in all but four of those games.

Parsons’ fellow analyst on the podcast, Byrn Hall, played alongside Jordan at the Crusaders throughout the club’s trophy-laden Scott Robertson years before moving to Japan four seasons ago, and said Jordan’s success is no fluke.

“I’ve been very lucky to be in camp with him — all of it comes down to effort and work off the ball. Very similar to Billy Slater, those first three steps on both sides of the ball are very important to how Will is able to get into those positions.

“But he’s also just got a knack, an IQ for reading the play really well. Long may it continue for the All Blacks.”

Feeding confidence in Jordan’s chances of making history this weekend is the success of the All Blacks’ attack in its first game under the new coaching group led by Dave Rennie.

Both Hall and Parsons highlighted how effective the All Blacks were at the breakdown, generating lightning-quick ball at 83 per cent of rucks and chewing through plenty of metres with the ball in hand as a result.

But what impressed the duo most was that New Zealand never shied away from the all-out attack, even when the game was on the line and the players were fatigued. The pundits both concluded that Rennie has quickly won over the locker room, with the players enjoying the style of play and fully buying into it.

“Why would you not (have confidence in the game plan)? It’s in our DNA to want to hold onto the ball, make offloads, make linebreaks, play what we see in front of us,” Hall said.

“I can only imagine in that group, and optimism is the big word that they’ve used, not having fear of where you are on the field.”

It was suggested that the team’s breakthrough moment could happen when the so-called “optimism” becomes “realism”, when the team’s cohesion catches up with the high-octane attack.

“Honestly, that will happen quicker than you think,” Parsons weighed in. “Because they’re not going to punish you for having a crack. You’re not going to lose your spot. That’s what it looked like, because they were taking risks when the game was in the balance.”

You can watch the full Aotearoa Rugby Pod episode on RugbyPass TV.