Statistic of the Day

[Puja]

Will Jordan dips below 1 try per test.

Useless! Drop him!

Puja

[Lizard]

Will Jordan dips below 1 try per test.

Useless! Drop him!

Puja

He might just be lining up for a hat trick against the Boks.

[Lizard]

Top 10 most test caps by an All Black whose brother has more caps

61 Scott Barrett (Beauden 115)
58 Zinzan Brooke (Robin 62)
54 Julian Savea (Ardie 74)
51 Jordie Barrett (Beauden 115, Scott 61)
47 Ben Franks (Owen 108)
35 Alan Whetton (Gary 58)
31 Ian Clarke (Don 31)
21 Akira Ioane (Reiko 62)
15 Stan Meads (Colin 55)
14 Hosea Gear (Rico 19)

[Lizard]

Starts for the All Blacks, by jersey number, since RWC2019
(italics = NOT in RWC squad)

1: de Groot 12, Bower 11, Moody 10, Tu'inukuafe 4, Williams 1
2: Taylor 19, Taukei'aho 9, Coles 8, Aumua 2
3: Laulala 16, Lomax 13, Tu'ungfasi 6, Ta'avao 3
4: Retallick 19, Whitelock 7, Tuipulotu 6, S. Barrett 5, Vaa'i 1
5: Whitelock 18, S. Barrett 13, Vaa'i 4, Lord 2, Retallick 1
6: A. Ioane 15, Frizell 13, S. Barrett 3, Blackadder 3, Jacobson 2, Finau 1, Papali'i 1
7: Cane 20, Papali'i 13, Savea 3, Blackadder 2
8: Savea 27, Sotutu 7, Jacobsen 4
9: Smith 24, Perenara 6, Christie 4, Weber 4
10: Mo'unga 22, B. Barrett 13, McKenzie 3
11. Clarke 15, Bridge 9, R.Ioane 5, Reece 4, Fainganuku 3, Telea 2
12: Havili 16, Tupaea 7, J. Barrett 6, Goodhue 5, Lienert-Brown 2, Laumape 1, Tuivasa-Sheck 1
13: R. Ioane 23, Lienert-Brown 11, Ennor 4
14: Jordan 19, Reece 10, J. Barrett 5, Telea 2, Narawa 1, Stevenson 1
15: J. Barrett 19, B. Barrett 10, McKenzie 7, Jordan 1, Perofeta 1
16: Taukei'aho 16, Coles 9, Taylor 8, Aumua 4
17: Bower 11, Tu'inukuafe 10, Tu'ungfasi 6, de Groot 4, Hodgman 4, Moody 1, Williams 1, Ross 1
18: Lomax 12, Laulala 7, Newell 7, 13, Tu'ungfasi 6, Ta'avao 6
19: Vaa'i 18, Tuipulotu 7, S. Barrett 4, Whitelock 3, Retalick 2, A. Ioane 1, Frizell 1, Lord 1, Sowakula 1
20: Papali'i 8, Sotutu 7, Jacobsen 6, A. Ioane 5, Frizell 5, Blackadder 4, Sowakula 1, Cane 1, Grace 1
21: Christie 14, Perenara 10, Weber 9, Smith 2, Fakatava 2, Roigard 1
22: B. Barrett 9, Mo'unga 9, McKenzie 6, Havili 4, Perofeta 2, R. Ioane 2, Lienert-Brown 2, Ennor 1, Laumape 1, Tuivasa-sheck 1, Umaga-Jensen 1
23: Tupaea 7, Lienert-Brown 4, J. Barrett 4, Jordan 4, McKenzie 3, R. Ioane 3, Ennor 3, Clarke 3, Havili 2, Reece 2, Tuivasa-Sheck 1, Bridge 1, McLeod 1

[Lizard]

Drop Goals by players in the All Blacks RWC squad
B Barrett - 3

[Lizard]

Will Jordan dips below 1 try per test.

Useless! Drop him!

Puja

After 3 consecutive tryless tests (Aus, SA, Fra), Jordan bags a brace to begin his redemption. Now 25 in 27 caps. If he plays against Uruguay he might get back to 100%. He's nearer 26 than 25, so now seems unlikely to break Howlett's record.

Beauden Barret is 7 behind Howlett, so has a chance, but at his current rate he would need to play through to about RWC 2027.

Mark Telea has entered the ring though, with 6 from 6...

[Lizard]

Jordan up to 27 tries in 28 tests

[Lizard]

Jordan up to 27 tries in 28 tests

28 in 29….

[Cameo]

I reckon he'll probably move to full back after the WC. It will probably increase his longevity but reduce his strike rate. What's the best strike rate for an All Black playing full back (Christian Cullen? Ben Smith?).

[canta_brian]

Jordan up to 27 tries in 28 tests

28 in 29….

Updates ahoy

[morepork]

Mo'unga....you silly sausage.

[Lizard]

Jordan’s 31 tries is the 2nd best return ever from 30 caps:

Ohata (JPN): 35
Jordan (NZ): 31
Rokocoko (NZ): 30
Piossek (Arg), J Savea (NZ), Tabutsadze (Geo): 29

[Lizard]

The only member of the New Zealand RWC2023 squad that has dropped a goal in a test match is B Barrett, twice in 2018 and once last year.

[Lizard]

Will Jordan now has 38 tries in 41 tests. His scoring rate has dipped a bit. He’ll be 27 before he plays another test so he might be about to drop off the cliff in the time-honoured All Black manner.

Beauden Barrett also scored his 46th try, moving ahead of Jeff Wilson into 5th on the All Blacks all time scoring list behind only Howlett (49), and Cullen/Rokocoko/Savea (46). Barrett has played more tests than any two of those players ahead of him combined.

[canta_brian]

I know it’s just me being an old git, but Jordan moving past Lomu doesn’t feel quite right. He just doesn’t seem to have the, is gravitas the right word?

[Lizard]

I know it’s just me being an old git, but Jordan moving past Lomu doesn’t feel quite right. He just doesn’t seem to have the, is gravitas the right word?

Jonah changed rugby forever.

Jordan is just a good finisher. Like, a really good finisher. But he’s not going to change the sport.

[Lizard]

Jordan has recovered his rate somewhat to 41 tries in 43 tests.

The funny thing is that he’s a bit like Howlett in being absolutely prolific but quite unmemorable. I mean I can picture in my head great tries by Savea, Lomu, J Wilson, Rokocoko etc, but I realised I couldn’t describe a single Doug Howlett try to you. You watch a “Best NZ Tries of the Decade” type video and he ain’t in it, despite scoring more than anyone else. So I went back and watched some Howlett-specific highlight reels on YouTube and, yeah, he ran in a lot of fast straight long range ones having been put in a gap. He scored a heap by working very hard to be on the shoulder of the guy who got tackled just short. But he hardly did anything flashy. There was maybe one where he broke an Aussie tackle me then stepped a guy.

It’s a bit weird. I reckon Jordan is sort of the same.

[J Dory]

Howlett was rapid and worked hard to be in the right place to use his speed. I loves me a speedy wing running down the touch line. Jordan is something else, something special IMO. Has speed, but he's also go nous, knows where to be, how to set up other players, great passer, can kick, step, apparently an above average dancer and fairly good kisser.

[Lizard]

Just copying this over from another thread, seeing as I've done the work.

There is serious trend of highly prolific All Blacks wingers suffering a precipitous decline in scoring rates in their late twenties.

I've looked at the numbers for every All Black ever with at least 12 tries playing on the wing (excluding Tana Umaga, who was really a centre despite his first 24 caps and 21 tries being on the wing). With one exception (Jeff Wilson, because he’s a bloody legend), the career of every retired played can be divided into prolific early years and poor later years:

Retired players

Stu Wilson: last test aged 29. Scored 15 tries in his first 24 tests (0.63/game) but only 4 in his last 10 (0.4).

John Kirwan: last test 29. 29 tries in first 38 tests (0.76), 6 in last 25 (0.24).

Terry Wright: last test 28. 13 tries in first 15 tests (0.87), 5 in last 15 (0.33).

Jeff Wilson: last test 27. The exception to the rule. His strike rate briefly dipped around the 20 cap mark, but recovered and did not noticeably decline at the end of his career. He scored 7 tries in 10 tests (0.70), 11 in 20 (0.55), 21 in 30 (0.70), 28 in 40 (0.70), 34 in 50 (0.68) and 44 in 60 (0.73). A remarkable career.

Jonah Lomu: last test 27. 28 tries in first 40 tests (0.70). 9 in last 23 (0.39)

Doug Howlett: last test 29. 41 tries in first 49 tests (0.84). 8 in last 13 (0.61) boosted by a hat-trick against a poor Italy at RWC2007.

Josevata Rokocoko: last test 27. 43 tries in first 47 tests (0.91). 3 in last 21 (0.14). This is probably the starkest example.

Sitiveni Sivivatu: last test 29. 27 tries in first 26 tests (1.04). 6 tries in last 22 (0.27)

Cory Jane: last test 31. 16 tries in first 41 tests (0.39). 2 in last 12 (0.17). Never really a strike winger as such.

Israel Dagg: last test 29. A bit of an unusual one. 10 tries in first 17 tests (0.59). 16 tries in last 49 tests (0.32).

Julian Savea: last test 26. 38 tries in first 39 tests (0.97). 7 in last 15 (0.47).

Waisake Naholo: last test 27. 14 tries in first 20 tests (0.70). 2 in last 6 (0.33).

Nehe Milner-Skudder: last test 27. Not a fair comparison as his career was ruined by injury, but you could say he scored 11 tries in his first 10 tests (1.10) and only 1 in last 3 (0.33).

Current players with 12+ tries on the wing

Ben Smith is aged 33. Not really a strike winger. His strike rate so far peaked at 0.57 after 23 tests, dipped to 0.39 after 49 tests, and since then has stayed between 0.40 and 0.48. He’s currently on 0.45 after 83 tests.

Reiko Ioane is only 22. His strike rate so far has peaked at 22 tries in 21 tests (1.05) but since then he has scored only 2 tries in 7 tests (0.29) but this includes one run off the bench and one at centre. Hopefully this is only a mid-career dip and not an early decline.

Just updating this:

Ioane has picked up 2 tries in 4 tests since the above post; one on the wing, one off the bench. Obviously he's being tried at centre so the analysis will get a bit complex.

Smith is obviously now retired. He played one match following the above, on the wing and scoring twice v Wales, ending on an overall strike rate of 39 tries in 84 matches on the wing i.e. 0.46 tries per test. (On the wing, he got 23 in 37, i.e. 0.62).

No one else has joined the 12+ tries wingers club yet. J Barrett and Bridge both have 9 on the wing so far. Barret also has 4 at FB and 1 at 1st 5/8, for 14 tries in 21 tests (0.67). Bridge has had 10 caps, so he's on 0.90!

Update: Will Jordan (25 years old) is on a fairly remarkable 22 tries in 22 tests.
[/quote]

Jordan is now 27 years old. Can he beat the hoodoo?

[Lizard]

Sadly the stats section of allblacks.com has been enshittified and it is now very difficult extract try-scoring data. I shall be writing to complain…

[Lizard]

I should point out that another New Zealander has actually just equalled Howlett’s total.

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has an unbelievable 49 tries in just 28 tests. She is magnificent.