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'We call him the Ferrari for a reason, I hope he breaks that eight'
By Liam Heagney
New Zealand purred their way into the Rugby World Cup final last weekend, dismissing Argentina 44-6 in Paris but not only could the winning margin have been more, tournament history should also have been witnessed in the 80th minute of the match.
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A 50:22 had earned the Kiwis a lineout throw five metres out on the left and when they attacked right, all Richie Mo’unga had to do was give the pass to the in-space Will Jordan and the All Blacks winger would have strolled in to set a new tournament-high try-scoring mark.
Instead, in a two-on-one situation near the line, Mo’unga took the ball on himself, threw a dummy in Jordan’s direction and ran into contact where he was hauled down a metre short of scoring.
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Eight is the record for tries in a single tournament, a feat shared by Lomu (1999), Bryan Habana (2007) and Julian Savea (2015). Jordan came into the semi-final with five and a hat-trick featuring scores on 11, 63 and 73 minutes pulled him level with his joint history-makers.
The last-minute near miss didn’t escape the attention of fellow All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke. “I asked him straight away when I saw him and I was, ‘Did you yell at him [Mo’unga]?’ He goes, ‘No.’ We just laughed.
“We call him the Ferrari for a reason, you saw it there. He is a special player with special abilities. I really hope he breaks that eight,” he said on The Big Jim Show Live on RugbyPass TV.
The semi-final hat-trick moved Jordan onto 31 tries in 30 Test matches and leaves him primed to try and secure the World Cup record when the All Blacks take on the Springboks in Saturday’s final. “He is really cool, a great guy,” continued Clarke, paying tribute to his fellow winger.
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“He loves golf. I’m not really into golf but I get along with him, I actually just annoy him and he just handles it because he knows that me and him have been playing together since U20, came through the schools together, so I am really lucky to go alongside a guy like Will. Again, he’s a great guy, a great team man. He always puts the team first.”
Whereas Jordan has been lighting up France 2023 with his five starts featuring two tries versus Italy, two more against Uruguay, one against Ireland and three against the Pumas, Clarke’s on-field activity has amounted to just two appearances – a start versus Namibia and a run off the bench against the Uruguayans.
If he is frustrated by that situation, he wasn’t showing it when speaking to Jim Hamilton. “One of the pillars in our team is just about being yourself. Everyone is just who they are. I’m an open guy,” he explained about his squad involvement.
“To be fair, I’m pretty much the one that annoys everyone. I was sitting with Dane Coles (in the stands against Argentina) and any chance I could get I was just poking him, annoying him.
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“Everyone just accepts you as you are. In our environment it’s about being who you are, we have values that we stick to… and pretty much it’s about trying to get each other better.”
Jerome Kaino, another Big Jim Show Live guest, added about Jordan: “We all know, we’re forwards, we know the forwards put the work in and he just gets the ball,” he quipped.
“But no, he is a special individual. His record speaks for itself, what he has been able to do. When I think about what he is able to finish I look at unsung heroes like Ardie Savea, Richie Mo’unga who create the space.
“For me, there are a lot of guys who aren’t really talked about in that All Blacks team who just work, notably Sam Cane, Ardie Savea and Sam Whitelock. Those boys have really been putting in the yards.”
He’s also a very good cricketer. We have a Rugby Vs Cricket T20 match with a mix of current and retired All Blacks & Black Caps. In last years match he scored a 27 ball 50, getting out on 63. Kieran Read top scored with 84. It’s the way it is here…rugby in the winter, cricket in the summer. Until it gets serious and you have to choose.
And it works both ways. Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps skipper, when he retired from international cricket, he lived in Matamata in 2020 to look after his race horses. In the winter he played senior club rugby for Matamata Sports. In his youth, he was picked ahead of Dan Carter for the South Island Secondary Schools Rugby team.
Would Mounga have done that if the game was on the line?
Very selfish from Mounga.
Will Jordan might not have been upset with Richie but he was my triple captain so I was fuming!
I hear ya.