'Fine margins' - Will Jordan's late injury scare ahead of All Blacks' win

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson called it “a hell of a Test match”. Fullback-turned-wing Will Jordan, meanwhile, described it as this: “There are fine margins in Test footy”.

Ain’t that the truth.

1News understands that Jordan, who scored two tries in the All Blacks’ 31-27 victory over France under the roof in Dunedin and was awarded a third before Nic Berry was convinced otherwise by an extremely busy television match official, was a doubt to play in this Test even after the captain’s run on the eve of it.

An upper hamstring issue was said to be causing Jordan difficulties in reaching full pace and so Damian McKenzie was being lined up to start at fullback in his place.

As it was, Jordan recovered just in time to start at fullback, only to shift to the right wing after Sevu Reece’s head injury 57 seconds in, with McKenzie running on in the No.23 jersey.

Who’s to say how the All Blacks may have fared had Jordan not played. The Crusader, fresh from a championship win with the red and blacks, is a try scorer like none other in All Black history.

He now has 40 tries in 42 Tests and is closing in on Doug Howlett’s record of 49, which Howlett achieved in 62 appearances. No else has scored tries for New Zealand at the rate Jordan is.

Teammate Beauden Barrett remains ahead of him with 45 tries (in 134 Tests) and, for all the talk of the All Blacks first-five breaking Howlett’s record this year, it may be that Jordan overtakes them both before 2025 is out.

Jordan, 27, can score them any which way; from long range and from close. And he should have had a third in the second half but for a marginal obstruction offence spotted by the eagle eyes of Damon Murphy from Australia.

“There are fine margins in Test footy… a bit of a tough call potentially,” was Jordan’s description. “There were a few of those we’ll have to look at… we’ve just got to be clean around what we do in that area.”

The All Blacks, generally in charge of the Test despite going 10-0 down, just could not get two scores ahead of the French and, while the three disallowed tries made a huge difference, the home side’s defensive lapses against what is effectively a “B” or “C” team, will have disappointed the coaches.

Every time the All Blacks got a lead, the French responded. That, and the constant interruptions by the match officials, made for a frustrating experience for the majority of the crowd and no doubt those watching in the All Blacks’ coaches’ box.

“It was a typical game against the French from my experience,” Jordan said. “It felt like we did enough to have a bit of a lead but we let in a couple of soft ones, they kicked a couple of long-range goals and it was a bit of a fight the whole night. I thought we played at the right end of the field in that second half so we were sort of in control for most of it and then we had a good defensive set at the finish.”

Of the way the All Blacks let in three tries, he said: “If you score 31 points you want to be winning games. Ultimately we did that – but 27 is a number that’s probably too high. We let in a couple of soft ones. When we got deep in phases we defended reasonably well, there were just a couple of ones where they went through a bit easily around the edges or through the middle. We’ll have a good look at that.

“We knew they were coming here with a point to prove… there was certainly no complacency our end. First Test of the year - we were a wee bit clunky.”

Fortunately, Jordan’s Super Rugby form has continued into the Test arena – as has hooker Codie Taylor’s. Both were very good. Ardie Savea was excellent as usual, with halfback Cam Roigard a near constant threat.

McKenzie was mostly good too after some early high ball issues, and debutant lock Fabian Holland, who played the full 80 minutes after skipper Scott Barrett surprisingly departed just before the hour mark, was very good indeed. He was a bright future.

But Jordan was right to say the overall performance was clunky and disjointed, and the disappointment for Robertson and company will be that it wasn’t too dissimilar to this time last year under the roof against England.

That was Robertson’s first Test in charge and the assumption was that the All Blacks will be much further ahead.

“It was Test footy,” Robertson said. “We knew any French team, especially one on tour that is written off, is going to put up a scrap.

“It was a hell of a Test match.”

“We wanted to get two scores ahead so they had to play a bit more. I thought the territory and possession was in our hands, we just didn’t do enough to put pressure on them… it just shows how much steel they’ve got in their group.”

For skipper Barrett there was only one thing he could say after seeing three tries ruled out for the most marginal of infringements – two knock-ons only visible after a series of slow-motion replays and one touch-and-go obstruction.

“Words of reassurance really that we were creating opportunities… we could have potentially been frustrated at three opportunities that were turned down after being awarded,” Barrett said.

“That’s a mental trap you can fall into, but I was pleased with the way the boys hung in there.”

The All Blacks will now travel to Wellington and the second of three Tests knowing that they have some big improvements to make.

As for Jordan and Howlett’s tantalising record?

“It’s something I’ve thought of... It’s about fulfilling my role and I guess as a back-three player scoring tries is part of that. I’m just trying to fill my role and pop up and create opportunities for the team," he said. "Ultimately that would be something that would be pretty cool to do.”