'I've seen Richie Mo'unga play Tests like that': Eddie Jones' verdict on Carter Gordon's first start

Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones has compared his new flyhalf Carter Gordon to his All Black counterpart Richie Mo’unga after the 22-year-old’s first start in the No 10 jersey in Melbourne.

Despite the home side conceding an early try, Gordon looked confident in the early stages as the Wallabies played with width and had the All Blacks on the back foot.

The Rebels playmaker was comfortable running the attack shape which found success with a couple of line breaks that couldn’t be capitalised on.

But a missed penalty goal from roughly 35 metres out was the catalyst for a change in Gordon’s fortunes as his kicking game lost control, handing the All Blacks too much field position at critical times.

The Wallabies found themselves in a hole at half-time 19-7 after conceding a late try to Will Jordan.

“Its still a work in progress, the team is very much a work in progress,” Jones said of his new halves pairing.

“If you arrive from Mars and watch the first 20 minutes, you’d probably think the team in gold is the stronger team. That’s the reality. But you’ve got to do it with 80 minutes.”

When questioned over his bold selection of Gordon over the experience of Quade Cooper, Jones defended his younger playmaker as one the top talents in the game.

The Wallabies head coach though that the performance reminded him of Mo’unga’s early All Black career where inconsistency plagued the Crusaders’ pivot.

“I think he’s the best young 10 in Australia,” Jones said.

“I’ve seen Richie Mo’unga play Tests like that.

“Richie Mo’unga, if you look at his first four or five Tests, he had a bit of up and down in them.

“He wasn’t good enough, then he was good enough.

“Sometimes you’ve got to got through a bit of pain mate to bring young players through and I’m prepared to do go through that.”

Jones was impressed by Mo’unga’s performance who led the All Blacks around the park after absorbing large amounts of pressure from the Wallabies.

It was the All Black No 10 who delivered the fatal blow on the stroke of half-time, finding a bat-on pass for Will Jordan to sneak over in the right hand corner.

Despite missing his first conversion, he finished four from six off the tee with some tough makes from the sideline.

“I thought Mo’unga kicked well, he’s turning into a proper Test 10, isn’t he?” Jones said.

“The ability to attack but keep the pressure on through good tactical kicking.

“They were a pretty good team.”

“I’m sure they kicked more than us, that’s one thing, and I’m sure they kicked better than us. That’s two.”

The Wallabies head coach didn’t regret changing up the side with a more youthful lot led by Carter Gordon, explaining that the experimentation is required to find a winning formula.

“We’ve got an unsuccessful history right now so we need to turn it around and find players who can do it,” Jones said.

“We’ve got to find players who want to give a bit more, we need players who are prepared to give more, and we’ll find those.”