Rugby Championship: Will Genia confident James O’Connor has turned corner as Wallabies eye Pumas scalp

Three weeks in camps and on tour to South Africa has given the Wallabies a real chance to see if actions are backing up the words that James O’Connor is a changed man. And they’ve been impressed.

James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale are back together in national colours.

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Winning the trust of senior Wallabies has got James O’Connor’s Test career on the launchpad for Suncorp Stadium because his loose midweek dramas are a blight of the past.

More and more there is the sense that the nimble back will reignite his Test career for the first time in six years against dangerous Argentina on Saturday night.

It is Will Genia’s final outing at his beloved Suncorp Stadium but the reappearance of O’Connor will equally pump ticket sales which are tracking at a relatively healthy 24,000-plus.

Fair-minded critics thought it all too easy that O’Connor could swan into a Wallabies squad from his English club Sale with the misdemeanours of the past dismissed as “the old James.”

James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale are back together in national colours.

Three weeks in Wallabies’ camps and on tour to South Africa has given 101-Test stalwart Will Genia, and others, a real chance to see if actions are backing up the words that he is a changed man.

There was once a common thread to the disrespect that O’Connor showed teammates because he often treated the players’ Wednesday day-off like the off-season.

His pre-dawn burger run to Hungry Jacks, with Kurtley Beale, on the Tuesday night before the huge Melbourne Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2013 was typical.

A photo with Lions fans, around 4am four days before the Test, infuriated senior teammates although the duo were not drinking.

The “Where’s James?” drama in 2011 was another embarrassment because he slept in after Wednesday’s day off and missed the big World Cup squad unveiling altogether at Sydney’s Qantas hangar.

“You saw ‘Whitey’ (Nic White) play really well, assured, and hopefully it can be a similar story with James,” Genia said of the halfback’s fine game against South Africa straight out of English club rugby.

Will Genia and Samu Kerevi can’t wait to take on the Pumas this weekend.

When asked just how the new O’Connor was different, Genia paused.

“How can I put it...(on) Tuesday night’s James was always out and about doing stuff because Wednesday we have off as our own free time,” Genia said.

“I think Tuesday night, the last three or four weeks, he’s been in his room stretching and normally texts ‘I’m doing recovery’.

“He understands this is a huge opportunity for him.

“I think he said he wants Queensland to see his best self (as a Reds player) and that’s the same for the Wallabies.

“He’s certainly living up to those words in the way he prepares and carries himself around the group.”

The Wallabies are wary of the big threat from Argentina.

Genia is one of only 10 senior players to have played a Test with O’Connor in a training and extras squad of nearly 40 so proving himself off and on the field is equally important.

Genia warned that the Argentinians had improved since last year when they upset the Wallabies on the Gold Coast and were denied by the Wallabies’ best second half of the season when they overturned a 24-point deficit in Salta.

“The Pumas are a far better team, just look at the Jaguares in Super Rugby holding the Crusaders to one try in the final and the All Blacks counting themselves as lucky to win in Buenos Aires last weekend,” Genia said.

“The way we came back to win (45-34) in Salta just showed what it means to take a game by the scruff of the neck, not be passive or wait for things to happen.

“This Test is important to start building some momentum and also combinations as far as who the boss sees playing at the World Cup.”

Genia said the epic 2011 victory over the All Blacks to win the Tri-Nations, the pulsating first Test against the Lions in 2013 and the first Test he started in 2009 against South Africa were three peak personal moments at Suncorp Stadium.

The win over the All Blacks at Suncorp in 2011 sticks long in the mind of Will Genia.

“When you are young, you never think it’s going to end...you don’t understand this career in the gold jersey is finite so the biggest thing is I’m really going to enjoy this last match at Suncorp,” Genia said.

The return to camp of lock Adam Coleman (shoulder) means a lock juggle is possible while flanker Luke Jones is another who will likely get some audition time on Saturday.