‘It was strange’: Will Jordan revisits All Blacks’ crushing Wellington loss to Boks

SPOTLIGHT: All Blacks utility back and try-scoring machine Will Jordan has faced the Springboks 10 times in his career, knows what it takes to beat them, but has also taken his fair share of punishment from the Boks.

*Also read: Rennie unhappy with Boks airing All Blacks’ discipline concerns in public

Jordan will run out on the right wing for the All Blacks in the opening Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at Ellis Park on Saturday after recovering from a back injury.

In his 10 outings against the Boks, Jordan has won four of those Tests and was part of that humiliating 10-43 loss in Wellington last year.

That defeat at Sky Stadium was a record-breaking loss for the All Blacks and added to the growing pressure on Scott Robertson, whose tenure was already hanging in the balance.

Both the Boks and All Blacks have opted to shy away from revisiting that Test in the media this week.

Jordan, however, was asked whether there were any lessons they took from that defeat.

“The Wellington one was a little bit of a strange Test match,” he told reporters.

“Going into halftime, and with even 20 minutes to go, we felt we were right in it. They got a bit of a roll in those last 15 to 20 minutes, and we struggled to deal with that.”

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In that Test, the All Blacks led 10-7 at the break courtesy of a try by Leroy Carter and a conversion and penalty by fullback Damian McKenzie.

They were swept away in the second half, with the Boks scoring five unanswered tries to hand New Zealand their biggest defeat on home soil.

“We took lessons around when we had the momentum in the first half and using that, potentially getting more points on the board in that time,” Jordan added.

“We also looked at how we as leaders get the group together, stay composed and are able to flip that around.

“Those are probably some of the key things I took from that last 20 [minutes].”

Jordan will hope to mark his return to action with a solid performance against the Boks at Ellis Park.

He was in scintillating form during the Nations Championship and upped his try tally in an All Blacks jersey to 51 in 57 Test matches to become the leading try-scorer in All Blacks history.

“I feel like as a team, we built well in July.

“For me, coming back and enjoying the combinations we’ve built between the backline over that time and getting a chance to get out there with those guys again.

“I think as a group, we’re really growing in the way we’re looking to play.

“We got a few opportunities with the ball in July, and there will be times when we’ll get those opportunities [against the Boks] and times when we have to roll up our sleeves and do a bit of dirty work as well.”

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The strong narrative that’s dominated headlines leading up to the first Test has been that of the Springboks’ desire to slow down the game.

The All Blacks raised their concerns in the media during the midweek matches before the Boks came out firing, with Rassie Erasmus and laws adviser Jaco Peyper dismissing those claims.

Jordan, who is central to the All Blacks’ style of play, said the whole narrative might have been taken out of context.

“A bit of a generalisation was used around the franchise games and the South African teams around slowing down the game,” he explained.

“I think over the last 12 to 18 months, you’ve seen a little bit of a shift in the way the Springboks want to play, with a bit more endeavour and tempo.

“How they go this weekend is out of our control. For us, we’ll be trying our best to keep the tempo up, and what we see from them is out of our control.”