But the man in the No.14 jersey was a standout again as he overtook former wing Doug Howlett on the Test try leaderboard \u2013 Jordan also scored a double against France in his side\u2019s victory in Christchurch last weekend. The 28-year-old now has 50 tries in only 56 Tests. <\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial players do special things, I guess,\u201d Savea said. \u201cEvery time he puts on the black jersey he\u2019s been outstanding and tonight he was again. Breaking records\u2026 I\u2019m just more impressed with the impact he has on our group and his leadership, his rugby IQ and setting up our team\u2026 today\u2019s an extra bonus dotting down three times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve only been here for 10% of his tries,\u201d Rennie said in reference to Jordan\u2019s five tries in his last two Tests. \u201cI\u2019ve seen some from the coaches\u2019 box in the opposition. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got unbelievable anticipation and then genuine gas to get himself in positions to take passes off line breaks and so on. Ardie talked about his rugby IQ \u2013 he\u2019s smart and understands the game well. I\u2019ve been really impressed with him. <\/p>\n
\u201cFantastic, jeez, 50 in 56 Tests \u2013 it\u2019s just phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan, who briefly captained the side after Savea went off near the end, finished beautifully as usual but was also an excellent link man and showed bravery and skill when winning a penalty turnover in the first half.<\/p>\n
He and the All Blacks will enjoy the milestone and victory before travelling back to Auckland for a significant Test against Ireland at Eden Park next weekend, with Rennie saying they will have to be much better to successfully defend their fortress.<\/p>\n
![\"All](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/all-blacks-head-coach-dave-rennie-and-skipper-ardie-savea-sp-TH5IVNSCZRBMRPHUA6SA7LZSCE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and skipper Ardie Savea speak to the media after the victory over Italy. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pass mark but we\u2019ll need to be better next week,\u201d Rennie said.<\/p>\n
He felt the All Blacks were too passive defensively in the opening 15 minutes and \u201cdisappointing\u201d in the final 25 when the game lost its shape probably partly due to a long injury delay for fullback Tomasso Allan and the yellow card farce for Ruben Love \u2013 a sanction that was eventually rescinded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting \u2013 they\u2019re a great side, Ireland, and very well coached and they\u2019ll be pretty confident off the back of a win in Australia last week,\u201d Rennie said of Ireland.<\/p>\n
He revealed that wing Leroy Carter has an AC shoulder issue \u2013 Carter was replaced by debutant Josh Moorby after providing the crucial assist for Jordan\u2019s first try (while injured), with flanker Luke Jacobson taken off at halftime and replaced but another debutant in Anton Segner due to cramp.<\/p>\n
Both Segner and Moorby acquitted themselves extremely well. <\/p>\n
Like last weekend, some of the All Blacks\u2019 decision making on attack still requires work and the forwards may have expected a little more from the set piece. Overall, Italy, ranked 10th in the world, had the better scrum.<\/p>\n
For Savea, however, \u201cit\u2019s positive. We clearly understand where we want to go and how we want to play. There are a few little things we want to fix up under pressure. There\u2019s a good feel in this group\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and skipper Ardie Savea have praised \u201cspecial\u201d Will Jordan after the wing\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-522138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}