Waratahs halfback Jake Gordon is refusing to look ahead to the impending Wallabies series as the club looks to 'desperately' break their winless season.
Gordon has been a shining light for the club since returning from an ankle syndesmosis injury in Round Seven, stepping up in his first year as captain.
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After a tough season, you wouldn't fault the 28-year-old's focus shifting towards July, with Gordon hopeful of retaining a spot in the Wallabies' 23.
However, the Waratahs skipper has been given clean air by Dave Rennie and the coaching staff as they look to avoid ending the season without a win.
“For me at the moment, I know it’s cliché but I’ve got a lot to do here at the moment,” he said.
“We want to win our last two games and if I start thinking about that stuff, I’ll get ahead of myself. I want to play some good Rugby and if I do that consistently, we’ll see what happens.
“They have given me space here at the moment since we’ve got a lot going on here. We’re desperate to get a win.
“I haven’t had much feedback on what I need to work on but consistently talking, they have great ideas but we haven’t got into the nitty-gritty about what I need to work on. That will follow in the coming weeks if I’m lucky enough to be selected.”
Whilst Gordon concedes the season has been tough to take, the presence of a host of youthful players in their first season has provided a natural boost for some of the veterans.
He believes these players deserve to taste victory in the final two games of the season as they build for the future.
“We desperately want to win the last two games. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but that’s our goal,” he said.
“In a tough year, I’ve enjoyed captaining the side. I love the group here and the guys are going to be great for years to come. They’re so positive which helps us older guys if we get a little down. It’s very exciting for years to come for the Waratahs.
“It’s really important for us. I’m not going to say we train harder than any other team but we really want to win. We’ve been close in a couple of games and a few we haven’t performed like we want to but we really want to win.”
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To achieve this, consistency is the key for a Waratahs side which has found themselves in winning situations for most of the year.
As they prepare for a Highlanders team missing All Blacks Shannon Frizell and Aaron Smith, Gordon called on his team to capitalise on their scoring opportunities.
“We’ve shown glimpses throughout games of how we want to play Rugby but there have been some key moments, (we're) not playing at the right end of the field and loose turnover attack especially against these Kiwi guys who thrive off that,” he believes.
“We also haven’t been capitalising on our opportunities in the gold zone. We had a lot of opportunities against the Crusaders, Izzy Perese getting held up, we had a turnover off his line break on the edge with ‘Nobby’ (Alex Newsome). We find ourselves in good positions on the field we just need to be more accurate there.”
