Will Jordan

Will Jordan is the most efficient try scorer in All Blacks history by strike rate — a Crusaders full-back whose finishing numbers at Test level have tracked at nearly a try a game across his career, a ratio nobody in the modern era of organised defences is supposed to sustain. New Zealand fans long ago stopped treating his scoring as news; the surprise is the rare Test he does not cross.

The deception is that nothing about him looks explosive. Jordan glides rather than sprints, which is precisely the problem for defenders — his change of pace arrives without a change of body shape, so covering players commit to angles he has already left. His support lines are the best in the game: he appears on the shoulder of line-breakers with a timing that cannot be coached, and his anticipation of where a kick battle will break down turns neutral possessions into scoring chances. Under the high ball he is elite, which secured the full-back shirt after years shuttling between fifteen and the wing.

He has spoken openly about managing a recurring migraine and vestibular condition that briefly stalled his career — a rare health story handled with maturity by player and employer alike — and returned without any visible dent in output.

In Dave Rennie’s unbeaten 2026 side, recorded at six wins from six in our database, Jordan’s aerial security and counter-attack are central to how New Zealand plan to survive South Africa’s kicking pressure in the four-Test Greatest Rivalry series. Ellis Park at altitude, wet ball dropping from floodlight height, is the exact examination his game was built for.