Les Kiss rates Carter Gordon’s return ‘a pretty good performance’ as Wallabies struggle to create chances ‘to pull the trigger’

Wallabies head coach Les Kiss has called Carter Gordon‘s display at fly-half against Scotland “a pretty good performance”, but admitted Australia did not create enough chances for him to use.

Kiss was speaking at his post-match press conference after the 15–12 defeat at Murrayfield, filmed by Scotland Rugby News.

Gordon was paired with scrum-half Ryan Lonergan, on his return at fly-half after recovering from a broken bone.

READ MORE: Les Kiss on Carter Gordon: the incumbent fly-half

‘Real positive’

Asked for his view on Gordon after the game, Kiss was upbeat.

“Yeah, real positive,” Kiss said. “I thought… combination was very, very new and thought there was some nice stuff in that area as well.

“You know, we felt trying to get a little bit more space for them to play with would have been nice… He created some nice space for them for the majority.

“…Overall I think it was a pretty good performance by Carter.”

Kiss told ITV after the match, as quoted by BBC Sport, that Gordon and Lonergan “clicked well together”.

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‘Pull the trigger’

A reporter put it to Kiss that Gordon at times looked short of options. Kiss said part of the answer lay with the team around him.

“I think there’s just a bit of flow about getting him reading it, but also flow how we create the positions in the field for them to pull the trigger,” he said.

“And possibly… didn’t pull enough, but when we did, I thought there was some good moments there.”

Australia made 10 line breaks to Scotland’s one, according to the official match data, but scored only two tries in the wet.

Out of sync

Kiss said the backline was not quite in rhythm.

“A couple of moments just couldn’t get that going for sure. Yeah, in phase flow there was more moments, but… possibly just a fraction… just out of sync.”

He also pointed to a line break that did not bring a try.

“We just maybe pass the ball a bit earlier. You know, we could have been a little bit more incisive than that. But that gives you a lot of confidence really that we can move the ball like that and play like that.”

Australia face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday 21 November.

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