Nations Championship Rugby: New Zealand beat France 34-32 in a thrilling tournament opener as Will Jordan closed in on the All Blacks’ try record. Rugby Union News

New Zealand kicked off the inaugural Nations Championship with a 34-32 win over France in Christchurch, with both tries from wing Will Jordan proving crucial.

Jordan scored the home side’s opening try in the seventh minute, while his second try of the game, his 71st, put the All Blacks breathless at 34-25 and took him to 47 career tries, just two short of Doug Howlett’s New Zealand record of 49.

Scrum-half Cam Roygaard also bagged a brace for New Zealand and Peter Lackey went over once as the All Blacks, who have not lost to France since 2009, gave new head coach Dave Rennie a winning start to his tenure.

The hosts were stunned when Damian Penaud gave France the lead less than 90 seconds into the game and Ruben Love was sin-binned for a high tackle in the build-up.

Mathieu Jalibert’s score two minutes from time, and Antoine Hustoy’s subsequent conversion, upset things for New Zealand but they held on to win a suffocating match.

Les Bleus were missing star names Antoine Dupont and Louis Bielle-Biarrey yet the All Blacks were still thoroughly tested with Hastoy and Theo Attissogbe each registering a try.

Australia will face France next Saturday and New Zealand will face Italy on the same day.

All Blacks captain Ardi Savea said: “It was tough. The French were quality. We were dangerous when we had the ball but we have a lot of work to do defensively.

“The French came in and put us under quite a bit of pressure but I’m really proud of my boys. We hung in there and found a way.”

French captain Maxime Loukou, who converted two penalties and two, added: “We played the best team in the world and the difference was a small detail.

“The score was 34-32, it was nothing really. It was disappointing but we worked really hard.”