It wasn’t quite Adam Ashley-Cooper being drafted into a Test match against South Africa while sitting in the grandstand in his ‘civvies’ and enjoying a cold beer and a hot pie (or whatever version of the yarn AAC ripped off at your club’s lunch), but Carter Gordon’s introduction to his second Test match was harried all the same.
For there he was, the mullet-toting 22-year-old who’d become Wallaby No.967 in Pretoria a week before, jogging along the southern end of CommBank Stadium, effectively watching the Wallabies-Los Pumas Rugby Championship Test from behind the in-goal.
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As a flyhalf on a 6/2 bench with scrumhalf Tate McDermott, Gordon thought there was some chance he could be drafted in somewhere unexpected, though he’d mentally prepared himself to play maybe 25 minutes at No.10.
Then, fourth minute, eek! Lenny Ikitau banged up his shoulder while scoring the Wallabies’ first try. And Gordon got the call – get over here, son! Suit up.
He raced over to the western side of ther ground to the Wallabies’ dugout. There were nerves: What do I do? Where am I gonna play? What is the meaning of this?
Ikitau, however, lasted another 13 minutes by which time Gordon had been told he’d be playing outside Quade Cooper, inside Samu Kerevi. There were 113 Tests between those two. And in between those two Gordon went.
“Lenny lasting that extra time was unreal for me because I could get my head around a different position,” Carter says.
“When the comms came down that I’d be going under 12, once I knew that I was definitely going into 12, it was sweet.
“And once I got on to the field, I kind of just felt like I was present. I was ready to go.” That he was. While his combination with Cooper was clunky, Gordon’s defence was sound and his hands assured. He didn’t look out of place. He looked ready.
Gordon appears born that way. While the path for some to rep Rugby has swings and roundabouts – Mark Nawaqanitawase almost went to New Zealand, James O’Connor nearly went off the rails – Gordon was very much on train tracks. He knew what he wanted to do and set about making it so.
He went from Sunshine Coast Grammar, to boarding at Brisbane Boys, to training with the Queensland Reds. He excelled at club Rugby. Loved it. Won a premiership with Wests. Playing professionally, for Australia – it was a matter of time.
“I played sports kind of around school but I never really took anything as serious as Rugby,” Gordon says.
“I’ve never really got into rugby league or AFL or anything like that. I played some touch on the side and some summer sports.
“I think mentality-wise, I’ve always pushed towards that [playing for Australia] as my goal.
“And like from a young age, with my old man, my family, my little brother plays Australia Under 20s … we’re a Rugby-mad household. And playing professionally was always a goal as a kid.” Following his 12-minute cameo off the bench in the Wallabies’ 43-12 shellacking by South Africa at Loftus Versfeld – in which he scored a long-range try after threading through a grubber, backing up Marika Koroibete and laying on a bigger step than a change of religions – Gordon earned praise from the man whose position Gordon covets: Quade Cooper.
“His performance when he came on, obviously the game was gone at that stage, but I felt he showed what he is all about, he showed he has the makings of a great player and I want to be there to continue to support him and also challenge him,” Cooper told Nine’s Iain Payten.
“It is a great start to his Test career.”
Cooper said the pair were both try-scorers on international debut and that the Wallabies digital team had put together a celebratory video on Instagram.
“His try was in 4k and mine was barely in black and white,” Cooper said. “We had a good laugh about that.” There will be little laughter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday night when the Wallabies take on the in-form New Zealand All Blacks.
Gordon says he’s faced a haka at junior level. He’s looking forward to the challenge of the main men.
“You see it so much as a kid growing up watching Rugby, when you’re invested in the game growing up, and now to face the All on Saturday, and face the haka, I’m really excited,” Gordon says. “It brings a new challenge. And I can’t wait to get into it.”
So that traditional challenge will pump him up then?
“Yeah, definitely,” Gordon says. “I think when you when you see them doing it, you can’t help but get a little bit fiery yourself. But it’s about controlling those emotions.”
Gordon will have an entire game to control and at zero for two with the Wallabies, you don’t expect him to be over-confident. But he’ll talk a good game, anyway.
Gordon says the team have had it out with each other and know where they let themselves down against Springboks and Los Pumas.
“Our breakdown wasn’t where we needed it to be,” Gordon says. “We had a lot of breakdown errors, a lot of turnovers. So the last few weeks have been making sure that we’re really smashing down on that detail at the breakdown and we’ve been working pretty hard at that.
“And then, look, we just want to work harder as a group. Work harder for each other, for the team.
“We went to make sure we’re not leaving any stone unturned. We want to make sure we got no regrets. Yes, there’s going to be mistakes.
“And you can look back on mistakes and think, yep, I’ve learned from that. But you don’t want to have any regrets. You don’t want to be going back, I wish I did this. I wish I did that.”
Gordon says he won’t be throwing caution to the wind against the All Blacks – or anyone at Test level. But as his 81st minute try in Pretoria shows, he’s not going to die wondering.
“It’s not a matter of just throwing things out there just because we can,” Gordon says.
“It’s more so reacting to what we’re getting and what we’re seeing and what might have happened previously.
“Test match Rugby is very different to Super Rugby. It’s a lot more territory based. And we know that, so we’re going to do everything we can to win these contests.”
