Will Jordan is looking forward to being reunited with his former team mate James Lowe when the All Blacks take on Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
Talented young winger Jordan won his first cap for New Zealand just last year, but he has already scored 16 tries for his country in just 11 test matches, and will be hoping to add to his tally against the Irish.
New Zealand and Ireland have been hard to separate in recent years, with each team winning two of their last four encounters, and Jordan will get his first taste of the rivalry today.
There will be some familiarity to the match for Jordan however, as he will line up opposite his former Tasman team mate in James Lowe, something which he revealed he is very excited about at the AIG #EffortisEqual Event.
Will Jordan on his upcoming showdown with James Lowe.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to going up against J-Lo tomorrow,” Jordan said.
“It was a wee while ago that I was playing with him, in 2017 in Tasman, and what I remember from him back then was that he had a great left foot and he was a really strong communicator as well. I’m sure we’ll have a good battle out there.
“In terms of the other two lads back in the back three, I thought they had a pretty strong game last week against the Japanese side and there were plenty of tries for them.
“So like Ardie [Savea] spoke about before, they’ll be looking to throw the ball around a little bit more perhaps this year. So it will be a busy day watching those guys.”
Will Jordan has scored 16 tries in 11 games, however his first game did not go according to plan ?
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‘He’s a very dangerous player.’
Jordan has grown a lot as a player since he last played with Lowe in 2017, in what was his first year as a professional rugby player.
Lowe’s time in New Zealand was nearing its end in 2017 when he shared a pitch with Jordan, as he signed for Leinster that year and made an immediate impact at the Irish province.
The 29-year-old has now won seven caps for Ireland, the first of which he won a year ago, and he has clearly won back the confidence of head coach Andy Farrell after being dropped in this year’s Six Nations after a few shaky defensive performances.
Jordan has fond memories of his time playing with Lowe, and is very aware that he will be coming up against a serious attacking force at the Aviva Stadium.
“Yeah, character’s a good way to put it! No, I got on really well with J-Lo,” Jordan said of Lowe.
“For me, when I played with him it was my first experience of a professional environment with Tasman and he was great to me.
“I was playing full-back at the time and he was playing on the wing and yeah, he’s a very dangerous player, a great communicator as I said and we had some great games together in the Tasman jersey.
“He came over to Ireland and really took his opportunities over here and he fully deserves the opportunity in the starting team. Yeah, looking forward to getting out there and rucking with him.”
New Zealand rugby internationals Anton Lienert-Brown, Will Jordan and Ardie Savea pictured at AIG’s offices in Dublin City Centre. They were taking part in a special live stream event with Dublin GAA players about diversity, equality and inclusion as part of AIG’s #EffortIsEqual campaign.
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