Brilliant Jordan shows All Blacks how it's done against Italy

If anyone personifies Dave Rennie’s “brilliant at basics” mantra it is Will Jordan, who scored three tries in his team’s 47-17 victory over Italy to claim a special piece of All Blacks’ history tonight.

Jordan’s hat-trick allowed him to overtake former wing Doug Howlett as the top Test try scorer in New Zealand’s history and his significant milestone put a gloss on an impressive second half for his side in Wellington after a decidedly ordinary first half.

Rennie, in his first campaign as All Blacks head coach, has made a big thing of his players being the best in the fundamentals of the game but they were far from it in the first 40 minutes and indeed occasionally showed a disregard for the laws of it.

Without labouring the point after a seven-try bonus point victory which took the All Blacks to the top of the Southern Nations Championship table, there was a man in front of the kicker at a re-start, an attempted counter-ruck on hands and knees, a case of hands in the ruck, and a neck roll. The latter three were penalties against the All Blacks.

Furthermore, a missed tackle by centre Billy Proctor which allowed Tomasso Menoncello to score the first try of the game was clearly not an ideal way for the Hurricanes man or All Blacks to start, but a Sam Darry try from close range in reply may have calmed the nerves before Jordan scored his first from some clever play by Jordie Barrett, one of his team’s best on the night, and left wing Leroy Carter.

This was an occasionally strange game which featured a yellow card, upgraded to red, for Italy prop Niccolo Cannone for a head butt on halfback Cam Roigard in a ruck, and there was a long injury break while Italian fullback Tomasso Allan was taken from the field.

There was a potential moment of notoriety, too, for first-five Ruben Love, who thought he had been showed a second yellow card in two Tests – this time for playing the ball on the ground – before he was called back by the overly fussy referee Luc Ramos for an earlier Italy transgression.

The second half clearly would have been far more palatable for Rennie and company, who were well rewarded by the impact of their reserves, including hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, flanker Anton Segner on debut, halfback Cortez Ratima, and wing Josh Moorby, also on debut, who replaced Carter in the first half.

The impact of Segner, who replaced Luke Jacobson at halftime, and Moorby, in particular, was outstanding. Both were accurate and were heavily involved and perhaps most notably were not inclined to make the errors that their far more experienced teammates were making.

For Segner, watched by his parents who had travelled 30 hours from Germany to sit in the grandstand, the occasion would have been extra special.

Italy, ranked 10th in the world behind Fiji, probably fired most of their ammunition in that first half before they wilted slightly but their endeavour probably would not have surprised Rennie or the head coach’s assistant Neil Barnes, the latter a former coach of the Azzuri.

They were good defensively, competed heartily at the breakdown, and, perhaps most significantly of all, had plenty of success at the set piece. They had several wins against the All Blacks’ scrum.

The All Blacks often looked deadly on the counter – especially in the second half as the visitors grew weary, and few put his team in better positions than second-half Jordie Barrett, who really is this team’s Mr Reliability, and who, fittingly, fired the long pass which put Jordan away for his history-making third try.

Jordan was excellent again, obviously. As a decision maker he is up there with Barrett in terms of getting things right, but otherwise there was a looseness on both sides of the ball from the All Blacks who were determined to be better after their narrow victory over France in Christchurch last weekend.

Roigard created a little bit of history himself in crossing the line again - his 14th try in his last 14 Tests, with prop Ethan de Groot celebrating a try of his own and lock Tupou Vaa'i rounding out the scorers.

Ireland will prove a much bigger – in every sense – challenge for the All Blacks at Eden Park next weekend but for now the focus will be on the outstanding Jordan and the way the All Blacks persevered to create a little magic after a modest halftime score of 14-10.

“It’s special, I guess,” Jordan said afterwards of his achievement in overtaking Howlett. “I think back to when I was a kid practising my chip and chase in the backyard. To be here tonight is hugely humbling.”

The supreme finisher is also an optimist. Asked about the shaky start to the Test, Jordan replied: “It’s good to come back from a bit of adversity and find some solutions.”

All Blacks 47 (Will Jordan 3, Sam Darry, Cam Roigard, Ethan de Groot, Tupou Vaa’i tries; Ruben Love 6 cons)

Italy 17 (Tomasso Menoncello, Leonardo Marin tries; Tomasso Allan con, pen, Paolo Garbisi con)

Halftime: 14-10