How the coronavirus pandemic helped save Jordan’s season
Finding positives out of the Covid-19 pandemic is no easy feat, but it has provided a silver lining for Crusader Will Jordan.
Had the virus not chewed up and spat out the playing calendar, ensuring the 15-team version of Super Rugby was kaput in March, his season would likely have been limited to three games due to a groin injury.
‘’It ended up being reasonably serious,’’ Jordan said of the groin injury he sustained in the Crusaders’ 25-8 win against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on February 14.
He missed the team’s last three games, and it was very much unclear when the smooth-running fullback out of Christchurch Boys’ High School would return.
Then Covid-19 struck.
‘‘I was rehabbing it all the way through lockdown, and the last couple of weeks I have finally been back up to get to full fitness,’’ the
22-year-old said.
‘‘I guess, in hindsight, the lockdown was a bit of a blessing in disguise. It meant I didn’t have to rush my rehab and it meant I could get it fully right before getting back out there.’’
Now, he’s arguably the form fullback in Super Rugby Aotearoa, having turned in eyepopping performances in wins against the Hurricanes and Chiefs.
Jordan scored both the Crusaders’ tries against the Chiefs on a slippery afternoon in Christchurch last Sunday.
He was also outstanding under the high balls sent down his throat by Brad Weber, Damian McKenzie and Aaron Cruden.
The former under-17 Canterbury cricket representative has notched the third most metres (209) in Super Rugby Aotearoa, despite playing a game less than Blues wing Caleb Clarke (227) and McKenzie (223).
No wonder the man who missed his entire rookie season in 2018 with concussion-like symptoms has been drawing attention through the Crusaders’ first two games.
But his explosive acceleration, silky skills and fine finishing aren’t new.
In a season hindered by a foot injury, Jordan ran in eight tries in just nine appearances (five starts) a season ago. Only Sevu Reece (15) and Braydon Ennor (10) scored more for the champions.
‘’Look at him now. Big, tall athlete, he can kick a ball, he has got tougher on the other side of the ball defensively, amazing work-rate,’’ Crusaders coach Scott Robertson said after Jordan’s performance against the Chiefs.
‘‘It’s up to him [how far he goes], really. And he is versatile, that’s the main thing. He’ll be on the [All Blacks’] radar.’’
Robertson has moved Jordan to the right wing, where he played the majority of his games last season, for tonight’s match against the Highlanders in Dunedin, making way for David Havili to return to fullback.
To think Jordan, a halfback in his early schoolboy years, could have been playing the majority of his games under the roof, had he accepted the Highlanders’ offer to lure him south last year.
They weren’t the only ones attempting to drag him away from his home city.
The Leon Macdonald-coached Blues, who the Crusaders host next Saturday, also wanted his services, only for Jordan to shoot down both approaches and instead sign a fresh three-year deal with the team he grew up dreaming of playing for.
Don’t think Highlanders and Blues fans have forgotten it, particularly the former, given they’ve been playing musical chairs at the position all year.