Captain Harry Wilson admitted they were crestfallen for the 24-year-old whose niggling quad injury has kept him sidelined for three tour matches since his return from rugby league, but they still believe in him becoming a Wallabies star.
Talented code-hopper Gordon has had an ill-starred year with serious back trouble scuppering his only NRL season with the Gold Coast Titans, limiting him to just one match before his latest setbacks on his comeback to Union.
Frustratingly, according to Wilson, Gordon, who'd scored a try in his comeback Test during the Italy defeat only to exacerbate the quad injury, had been looking really sharp in his final training run-out in Paris on Friday.
He said he felt "gutted" when the flyhalf was ruled out of Saturday's Test at Stade de France.
"He's had a tough year, Carter. He's worked so hard since getting to this group, and he just hasn't been able to catch a break, and we all feel devastated for him," said Wilson, who'll be his teammate at Queensland Reds next season.
"He could do with a little rest after this, get a little bit time to freshen up, get away from rugby, and then get ready for a big Reds' season for him next year, which I'm really excited to see him play.
"And from what he's done at training, it's super exciting for Australian rugby having him around for next few years.
"He's been performing so well, so we're devastated he hasn't got the opportunity to show it this weekend, but I think there's gonna be plenty more opportunities of Carter Gordon playing in gold."
Asked how the team was keeping up his spirits, Wilson added: "Just showing care to start with. At the start of the year, he didn't even know what was happening in his career, he's had a rough old year, but then he's come in, he's performed.
"He's getting ready to start in the 10 jersey for the Wallabies, and then to lose him so late in the session, you just give him a hug and tell him you feel for him, because he's hurting.
"We all feel for him, and we could see how much it hurt him not playing this Saturday. If we can use that as extra fuel, to see how much it means to someone to miss out on pulling on this gold jersey, we might need to use that, because it's awesome to see how much he cares."
