Will Jordan has proved he is not just a great rugby player but a really good team-mate as well. The New Zealand winger showed his true colours by not yelling at All Blacks team-mate Richie Mo’unga after failing to find him in space to set a new World Cup try-scoring record.
New Zealand steamrolled Argentina 44-6 to reach their fifth Rugby World Cup final but the margin of victory could have been wider if Mo’unga hadn’t wasted their 51st minute opportunity for yet another try. The Kiwis earned a lineout in the second half out on the left and when they moved the ball right all Mo’unga had to do was lay off Jordan for his ninth try of the tournament.
However, Mo’unga opted to do it alone and was brought down just shy of the try line. Jordan scored a hat-trick in the semis to equal the record for the most tries by a single player in the tournament, jointly held by Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea but was unable to add to that tally thanks to a lapse in judgment from Mo’unga.
But Jordan didn’t dwell on his team-mate’s mistake. Speaking after the game on the Big Jim Show Live, fellow All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke said: “I asked him [Jordan] straight away when I saw him and I was like, ‘Did you yell at him [Mo’unga]?’ He goes, ‘No.’ We just laughed.”
Jordan has already expressed that he is willing to pass up the opportunity to set a new record if it means his side beat South Africa in the World Cup final on Saturday. “The World Cup win is what we all came over here to do, so I’ll be perfectly happy to take a zero on the scoresheet if that means that we get the job done,” he said.
“It’s a cliche, but it’s obviously a team game and the group are really focused at the moment around what we want to do, so hopefully I can play my part in that.”
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When asked about equalling the record alongside Lomu, Habana and Savea, he added: “It’s pretty humbling to be honest. Those guys are all huge legends of the game. Particularly in the position I play, they have really trailblazed the way to play the game as a winger, so that’s pretty cool.
“I’m not one to keep track of the numbers. I’ve always liked the support play and trying to be in the frame and read the game scenarios. Being able to do that is what I kind of hold my hat to. So it’s not so much about scoring tries, because you get a few like last night, where I just sort of catch it and dive over.
“It’s more about involvement in the game for me and trying to pop up and give us an extra number on attack. It’s always cool to be able to score tries and dive over, but it’s not the main marker for me around how I’m doing.”
