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‘Gonna need him’: Dan Carter's warning to Wallabies before RWC squad reveal
By Finn Morton
Test veteran Quade Cooper and former Australian skipper Michael Hooper were among the surprise omissions from the Wallabies’ 33-man squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
The Wallabies have lost all four Test matches under Eddie Jones this year, and the legendary coach appears intent on building for the future.
Out of the players selected, 25 will make their World Cup debut in France.
But, what made the absence of playmaker Quade Cooper more baffling, was that coach Jones only named one first-five in the squad. Ben Donaldson is another option, but was listed as a 'utility.'
Rising star Carter Gordon, who has only started two Test matches in Aussie gold, will spearhead the Wallabies’ attack when they charge into battle at the World Cup.
The young gun has shown plenty of potential and promise, sure, but the World Cup is a daunting stage. It’s a lot of responsibility to pin on the shoulders of a 22-year-old flyhalf.
Two-time Rugby World Cup-winning playmaker Dan Carter, who is widely considered one of the best players in All Blacks history, has weighed in on the Wallabies’ flyhalf options.
Before the World Cup squad was named, Carter sat down in a Chinese restaurant with Wallabies legend Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Mitchell asked his old international rival who he’d start at flyhalf if the Wallabies played in a World Cup final tomorrow. Dan Carter would’ve gone with Quade.
“Carter Gordon, I have a lot of respect for him,” Carter told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby Australia. “I think he’s got a lot of potential.
“I think he’ll really grow, and having that leadership around him like Quadey to learn from, you know what you’re going to get from Quade.
“(Quade is) still coming back from a pretty serious injury so I think the more game time he gets, the more confidence he’ll get as well.
“The games he has played this year he’s been a distributor of the ball. When he’s at his best, he’s attacking the line. Haven’t quite seen that from Quadey yet.
“Quadey’s been to World Cups, he’s been on the back end of some tough losses so he’s got the motivation, the experience, the willingness to rewrite the wrongs of previous World Cups.
“You know how valuable experience is in big moments like World Cup playoff games, you can’t buy that experience.”
But, despite what Carter expected from the Wallabies, coach Eddie Jones has handed the playmaking reins to young Gordon ahead of the biggest tournament in the sport.
Gordon made his Test debut off the bench against South Africa in Pretoria, and scored a try as well. The 22-year-old came off the bench the following week against Argentina in Sydney, too.
But ahead of Bledisloe I, Gordon was handed his first start in the No. 10 jersey at Test level. It wasn’t his best game, though, but an important one nonetheless.
“You’re gonna need him though. World Cup time, if you do reach the final like you’re talking about, there’s going to be injures, there’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be lack of form for lack of players,” Carter added.
“You need your whole squad absolutely firing.
“He’s young, he’s talented, he’s got a really bright future.”
The Wallabies take on World Cup hosts and favourites France later this month in their final Test match before the tournament.
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Latest Comments
I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.
I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.
We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.
I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.
Go to commentsGreat but players do play like Oz too BS!!
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