Melbourne Rebels attack coach Tim Sampson is confident that Carter Gordon can rise to the challenge of handling of handling the Wallabies’ goal-kicking duties at the Rugby World Cup.
Sampson has backed the 22-year-old fly-half to improve with his shots at goal after he delivered an underwhelming display in that department in the Wallabies’ recent Rugby World Cup warm-up encounter against France in Paris.
Succeeded with just one goal-kick against Les Bleus
The Wallabies suffered a 41-17 defeat to Les Bleus with Gordon leaving 12 points on the park after succeeding with just one out of five goal-kicks on the day.
Former Western Force head coach Sampson said although Gordon doesn’t usually handle the Rebels’ goalkicking duties, he is a capable ball-striker.
“We have a competition with our goal-kickers in the pre-season and like the Masters golf has a green jacket for the winner, the lads went out and bought a blue blazer from the op-shop and have a weekly competition and whoever got the highest percentage would take the blazer home and Carter kicked very well and got to wear the jacket,” Sampson told AAP.
“He struck them well against France and they were only just shaving the uprights but they were important in terms of scoreboard pressure.
“He works extremely hard and I’m sure he will be doing that.”
Utility back Reece Hodge, who is not part of the Wallabies’ World Cup squad and plying his trade at Top 14 outfit Bayonne now, was the Rebels’ first choice goal-kicker during the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season. That meant he did not get the usual volume of kicking practice during the season and the Rebels also managed his training due to minor hip flexor and groin injuries.
Despite his poor goal-kicking in Paris, Gordon didn’t appear rattled and Sampson said the five-Test Wallaby’s ability to shrug off mistakes is a strength.
“That was probably the growth in maturity that I certainly saw this year in Carter,” he added.
“To accept that, as a young flyhalf, he’s going to make mistakes and it’s obviously key that we learn from from our mistakes but in his position as a 22-year-old flyhalf he’s going to make mistakes.
“He’s worked hard on that, within that mental space, about how to respond and react to when something doesn’t go his way.”
Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones took a risk to leave experienced playmakers Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley out of his World Cup squad. That means Gordon to is the first choice for Australia’s number 10 jersey at the global showpiece.
Sampson believes Gordon is ready for the responsibility of being his country’s main playmaker.
“He certainly won’t shirk away from that,” he said.
“He’s very robust physically – we saw that this year in Super Rugby, where he carried a lot of a lot of the load for us as well.
Ready for the challenge
“It will be a challenge for him, and something different to be playing this volume of rugby at the back end of the Super Rugby season through the World Cup.
“I do think he will be able to handle it and I’m sure Eddie and his staff will manage him wisely because he’s so important.”
READ MORE: ‘We didn’t want to show too much before the World Cup’ – Taniela Tupou
The article Carter Gordon receives backing after poor goal-kicking display for Wallabies appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
Article courtesy of
Source link
