Will Jordan named World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year
All Black Will Jordan has been named World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year.
The 23-year-old outside back has pipped Australia's Andrew Kellaway, Wales' Louis Rees-Zammit and England's Marcus Smith for the prestigious award, which has been previously picked up by the likes of Romain Ntamack, Rieko Ioane and Maro Itoje.
While Jordan made his test debut in 2020, no awards were dished out last year due to the significantly affected international calendar which saw a huge disparity in the number of games played by each nation.
While the likes of England and Wales managed to get through almost a full roster of games, New Zealand and Australia notched up just six apiece and South Africa didn't play a single match.
Jordan burst onto the scene for the All Blacks last season when he made his first significant appearance off the bench in the side's 38-0 win over Argentina, with the reserve winger scoring two opportunistic tries late in the match to help his side to a comfortable victory.
This year, Jordan has maintained his hot run of scoring, grabbing five tries in the All Blacks' opening fixture against Tonga, and touching down a further 10 times throughout the year.
While Jordan typically plays his rugby at fullback for the Crusaders, it's on the right wing where's weaved his magic for the All Blacks, eventually taking over as the first-choice in the No 14 jersey during the season.
The All Blacks released a video on their social media accounts of Jordan being awarded the Breakthrough Player of the Year by teammates Beauden Barrett and Ioane - although the young outside back didn't know at the time what was happening.
"Sorry, can I just get a brief of what we're actually doing here?" Jordan asked when Barrett questioned the youngster how he found his first full season of test rugby.
"It means a lot to win this, it's been an exciting year for me and the team as well," Jordan said, when Ioane handed over the award. "I was involved with the team a little last year but it's nice to be on the field a little more this year. Thanks to the coach for the opportunity."
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wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
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