Rugby-Flyhalf Gordon a work in progress for Wallabies

Carter Gordon has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season and a large chunk of Australia's hopes for a successful Rugby World Cup campaign in France will rest on his ability to continue learning on the job. The 22-year-old flyhalf started the year as a promising prospect playing 'heads up footy' in his third season of Super Rugby, catching the eye as much for his long blond hair as for his craft in the playmaker role.

Carter Gordon has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season and a large chunk of Australia's hopes for a successful Rugby World Cup campaign in France will rest on his ability to continue learning on the job.

The 22-year-old flyhalf started the year as a promising prospect playing 'heads up footy' in his third season of Super Rugby, catching the eye as much for his long blond hair as for his craft in the playmaker role. Tall and muscular, Gordon's passing and kicking from hand were top notch and he was comfortable both taking the ball up to the line and defending in it - qualities that set him apart from rivals Quade Cooper and Noah Lolesio.

Returning Wallabies coach Eddie Jones liked what he saw and named Gordon as the only specialist flyhalf in the youthful squad he selected to carry Australia's hopes of a third World Cup win. Those hopes now look more like a pipedream with Australia having lost all five tests this year, three heavily.

Gordon has played a part in every game, scoring a try on debut off the bench against South Africa and impressing as a makeshift replacement centre against Argentina. His first start was in front of 84,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Australia lost 38-7 to the All Blacks, but he looked more assured in the second Bledisloe Cup test when the Wallabies took a 17-3 halftime lead only to lose 23-20.

"Obviously I was a little bit nervous for that first start in Melbourne," he said. "But I'm really glad the way everything happened the way it did. Then to get that second start in Dunedin was unreal.

"I went into that game kind of knowing what to expect having that one game under my belt. I really enjoyed it. I was really happy out there." Gordon made his third start in front of another huge crowd in Paris in late August but his place-kicking completely deserted him as the Wallabies were humbled 41-17 by World Cup hosts France.

Jones has been fiercely protective of all his young players but particularly Gordon, saying such fluctuations in form are natural in a player still finding his feet in test rugby. "It's 100% a concern but all we can do is work with the young kid," Jones said of Gordon's kicking at Stade de France.

"We've got young kids in this team and we're backing them, and he'll get better." Jones's team selections have often confounded expectations this year but his only other option at flyhalf is Ben Donaldson, who is listed as a 'utility' player in the squad.

That makes it highly likely that Queenslander Gordon will be given his fourth test start in Australia's tournament opener against Georgia back in Paris on Sept. 9. Even if he not a regular place-kicker in Super Rugby, redemption for his display against France is a must as Australia look to work their way out of a pool also featuring Wales, a dangerous Fiji side and Portugal.

More important, however, will be Gordon's ability to unleash the undoubted quality in the Wallabies backline despite playing behind a pack that will not always guarantee him front-foot ball.