Plenty of problems around the pivot

Some World Cup coaches have been unlucky with their out-halves - others have just got their timing wrong. Seldom has so many nations gone to bat with so many question marks over their tens

BIG MISS: France's talismanic fly-half Romain Ntamack will miss the World Cup

Carter Gordon’s long night in Paris was less than seven minutes old last weekend when Jonathan Danty took a pass from Antoine Dupont off a French lineout. The gargantuan centre was five metres out when he took possession and already in fifth gear. You don’t need to have seen what followed to know how that ended.

Gordon wasn’t the first ten to be panzered by the La Rochelle giant and he won’t be the last. The more pressing concern for Eddie Jones was a fitful effort with the boot as Gordon landed just one of five attempts on goal and left ten points behind him. The vast majority of those were spurned in a first half when the contest was still alive and kicking.