'It’s a team game': Will Jordan focused on World Cup glory instead of record
Will Jordan would happily sacrifice his place in the history books if it means New Zealand lift the World Cup for an unprecedented fourth time.
Jordan claimed a hat-trick of tries in Friday’s 44-6 semi-final rampage against Argentina in Paris, making him the deadliest finisher at France 2023 on eight touch downs.
It also placed him in the company of all time-greats Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea, who jointly hold the record for highest number of tries scored at a single World Cup.
The 25-year-old has Saturday’s final against either England or South Africa to rise above that exalted trio, but he insists chasing individual glory is a peripheral concern.
“The World Cup win is what we all came over here to do. I will be perfectly happy to take a zero on the scoresheet if it means we get the job done,” Jordan said.
“It’s a team game and the group is really focused at the moment around what we want to do. Hopefully I can play my part in that.
“It is pretty humbling to be included alongside those guys. They were all huge legends of the game and, particularly in the position I play, really trail-blazed the way to play the game as a winger. So that’s pretty cool.
“It definitely wasn’t anything I set out to do or anything like that, but it’s nice to be able to do that in amongst the team going so well.”
It was almost the perfect night for New Zealand at the Stade de France as they swatted aside Argentina as if it was an exhibition match, rested legs by emptying the entire bench and finished without any cards or suspensions.
The Pumas, meanwhile, will play in the bronze final on Friday with assistant coach Juan Fernandez Lobbe adamant that it is a game with meaning.
“The disappointment is very, very big. We came to want to play in the final and we couldn’t,” former Argentina forward Lobbe said.
“The team is very clear – and they made it clear after the semi-final – that finishing with a medal is important.
“I finished in third place in 2007 and fourth in 2015 and they are not the same. So it’s a very important game.
“It means going on Friday with total determination, with our way, our weapons. It would be a very good closing of the World Cup for us.”
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The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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