Rugby World Cup 2023: All Black Will Jordan is not the antidote to ‘soulless rugby’ - Gregor Paul

OPINION:

Gregor Paul in Bordeaux

No doubt, the drums will beat ever louder at this World Cup for Will Jordan to be shifted to his preferred position of fullback, but those banging that beat are starting to sound out of tune.

This World Cup is not shaping up as one for the free spirits and great adventurers.

It is trending in a direction that rugby really shouldn’t be heading in if it has genuine hopes of selling itself to a new audience and retaining its existing one.

But nevertheless, that’s what’s building in France – a tournament of kick-chase, of big scrums, defensive line speed and relentlessly drilled conservative mindsets that are telling players the safest and best option is to get rid of the ball if not much is cooking after a few phases of possession.

Jordan, as one of the great instinctive backfield runners, is seen by many as the antidote to this soulless rugby that is manufactured by bloated coaching teams eager to micro-manage every facet of the game.

Shift him to fullback, so the argument goes, and the All Blacks will have an unpredictable cavalier mopping up at the back – the sort of difficult-to-read and even harder-to-defend counter-attacker who will punish those teams who think they are better off playing without the ball.

It’s a romantic theory, certainly, but its entirely wrong, too, as Jordan’s skill-set – the things he does best – is not going to be easily utilised from fullback given the prevailing style of rugby the All Blacks will encounter at this tournament.

Fullback is not the right role for Jordan at this tournament. It’s a role that comes with a heavy defensive component, particularly catching high kicks – a skill at which Jordan has not yet shown himself to be a world-class exponent.

Will Jordan during the New Zealand All Blacks v Australian Wallabies Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship test match at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport.

The All Blacks need their best high-ball takers at fullback – which is why they split the role defensively between Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga.

If they don’t catch the high kicks, there is no counter-attack opportunity and, as Jordan himself explains, the All Blacks use their fullback more as a facilitator of any counter-attack opportunity and not as strike weaponry.

There’s also more reason to like Barrett at fullback than Jordan because of the former’s experience as a decision-maker and kicker.

The All Blacks didn’t get the balance of their game right against France - Barrett and Mo’unga kicking too much from deep - but shifting Jordan to fullback is not the right way to address that problem.

Barrett has a greater strategic understanding and is unlikely to repeat the same mistake in this tournament. He’s also the better kicker, and so the All Blacks would be making an unjustifiably poor decision, based on their positional needs, to shift Jordan to fullback at the expense of Barrett.

As Jordan himself says: “On the fullback side, you are more involved in the counter-attack and the kicking game.”

“In terms of just roaming around the field and general attack shape, then the wing has more licence to go where you need to go, and I guess fullback is more involved in the direction and organisation of moving the team around, whereas the wing can just pop up where he sees space.”

In the current climate, wing is the best place for Jordan: the position in which his innate timing and uncanny ability to appear in unexpected places can be best used.

He’d be wasted at fullback at this tournament, his natural game buried under an avalanche of high balls, and victory would be handed to the unimaginative.

Will Jordan of New Zealand during the Rugby Championship test match against South Africa. Photo / Photosport

Jordan is every inch the right choice at wing for this tournament. Playing him there means his pace has more chance of being effectively used when the All Blacks run from deep, but it also gives them a weapon in one of their favoured plays – the attacking high-kick to the openside wing.

This was a successful tactic for the All Blacks this year during the Rugby Championship, with Jordan’s pace enabling him to either retrieve possession or put enough pressure on the defensive catcher to force a mistake.

They used it a lot against France, too, but it backfired to some extent as Jordan had a few issues with his decision-making - choosing to challenge for the ball in the air when he shouldn’t have - and he conceded two penalties and earned a yellow card for doing so.

But while it wasn’t a successful strategy against France, Jordan says it’s an area of his game that he’s worked on since that opening-night defeat, and it seems likely to be a tactic with which the All Blacks will persevere.

“There were a couple there that were reasonably split-second calls,” he says.

“I think what we took out of it is that you have to be in control in that space, as if you are a step out or a second late, you obviously put yourself at the ref’s mercy.

“The lesson for me was about being in control a bit more, and if the kick is a bit long… what are the next options after that?”

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.