By any measure it is a remarkable achievement. While many have fantasised about how it might feel to score a try for the All Blacks, no one in history has now lived that dream more frequently than Will Jordan. At the weekend the New Zealand wing took his tally to 50 tries in only 56 appearances, overhauling Doug Howlett’s all-time national men’s record of 49 in 62 Tests.
Perhaps the biggest compliment to pay Jordan is how relatively easy he makes it all look. Where others blow hot and cold, the 28-year-old glides around like a smooth, top-of-the-range sports car. A devastating little surge of electric acceleration here, exquisite running lines, world-class anticipation, deceptive pace … by the time defenders finally work out what he is doing it is usually too late.
Because shooting stars like him are rare gems, it is tempting to assume that his extraordinary strike-rate of 0.9 tries per Test leaves everyone else in top-tier history for dead. Which it would do if Louis Bielle-Biarrey of Bordeaux-Bègles and France had not burst on to the scene. To date the French wing has 29 tries in his 27 Tests and registered another 64 in 97 club games for Bordeaux, impressive by anybody’s standards.
As with Jordan there is much more to it than simply plonking the ball down over the whitewash. Bielle-Biarrey has almost single-handedly changed the game when it comes to his uncanny ability to chase down chips over the top and burn off even the most dependable of defenders. At just 23 he could theoretically have another decade in him at the top level, by which point his stats could be stratospheric.
And guess what? Their respective teams are increasingly basing their games around their respective supermen. Because aside from anything else the game is changing. Not so long ago wings might receive only a couple of passes per game because, well, that was just the way it was. Few had the wit or imagination to appreciate that the quickest players on the field – as opposed to the biggest and strongest – might be worth using more often.
Of course rugby remains an uncompromisingly physical challenge but nothing discomforts defenders more than sheer pace. Bordeaux and France both have powerful athletes up front but these days they play – or kick – to width as a matter of routine. Why wouldn’t you when you have Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud, Théo Attissogbe, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, et al lurking with intent? New Zealand, likewise, would be crazy to underuse a finisher of Jordan’s quality.
Which brings us, with a certain inevitability, to England and Henry Pollock. The 21-year-old is a back-row forward but his eye-catching acceleration earned him a hat-trick of tries at Fiji’s expense in Liverpool and would have impressed even Bielle-Biarrey. Never mind the ferry across the Mersey, it was like watching a jetski leaving everything else in its wake.
It took Pollock’s international try tally to six in 311 minutes, which amounts to a try every 52 minutes or so. But in those dozen Tests he has started just once, at No 8 in a losing cause against Ireland in a back row including Tom Curry and Ben Earl. For all his obvious bench impact there remains a sense he is not yet entirely trusted to be “the man” from the outset.
But why not? If you’re good enough you’re old enough, always assuming your destiny is being shaped by people prepared to subscribe to that maxim. Younger players are better prepared physically than they have ever been. Last Saturday it was once again abundantly clear that England have taken delivery of a generational talent. With the bleached hair, the try celebrations and the black headbands, it is even more obvious that he loves the limelight.
Admittedly, he wasn’t nearly so prominent the previous week against South Africa at Ellis Park. But of course he wasn’t. By the time he touched the ball for the first time late in the third quarter, England had conceded five tries and the tone of the game had been set. Maybe Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese would have made merry regardless but it is reaching the point where not starting him reveals more about this England regime than it does the player himself.
The smarter move would be to build the back five of the scrum around him, the better to maximise his talents. You could also argue that rugby more generally could do with him being properly unleashed. Who are the sport’s current guaranteed global box-office draws, aside from Bielle-Biarrey and Jordan? Siya Kolisi, Antoine Dupont, Ardie Savea, Matthieu Jalibert, Finn Russell, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cheslin Kolbe all fit the bill but only three are aged under 30.
A chance meeting at Heathrow airport on Sunday neatly summed up the game’s battle in that regard. Your correspondent was minding his own business outside Wagamama when a posse of England players wandered out of the restaurant. The lady next to me decided to request a photo with them and entrusted me with her cameraphone to take the picture. It was pretty clear, however, that she had little idea who they all were individually. Had they been in civvies rather than England gear, how many would she have recognised?
Which is a question every marketeer and media prevention officer in rugby should ponder. Hopefully it will help that this month’s games are all being broadcast live by ITV. By this autumn, when they are trying to sell tickets to the Nations Championship finals weekend, the organisers would love it if Jordan, Bielle-Biarrey and Pollock were more widely recognisable. There is some serious gamechanging rugby talent out there if people are prepared to give it full rein.
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