Wallaby James O’Connor recalled in bombshell selection face Lions as first Test squad revealed
The Wallabies have pulled some major selection shocks to take on the British and Irish Lions - headlined by the recall of James O’Connor. See the bizarre way the outcast playmaker found out about his selection.
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Joe Schmidt was growing impatient.
James O’Connor wasn’t answering his phone calls, and the Wallabies squad for the British & Irish Lions series was to be announced in an hour.
As Australia’s coach dialled the number again from the team’s hotel lobby, he received a tap on the shoulder from James Slipper. “The bloke you’re after is outside,” Slipper revealed.
Schmidt walked outside, and saw O’Connor talking a group of Wallabies players including Tom Wright, Len Ikitau and Fraser McReight.
“Why haven’t you answered your phone?” Schmidt asked O’Connor.
The 35-year-old playmaker had a busy morning, firstly helping former Sevens player Shannon Parry run a coaching clinic at Ballymore, then attending an interview with his wife Bridget at the UK visa office in Brisbane city, having signed a deal to play for English club Leicester later this year.
After the interview, O’Connor had driven around the corner and seen a group of Wallabies players outside their team hotel.
“Me and the wife went in and got my visa and then I just saw a couple of the boys on the corner, like literally about 100 metres up the road, so, I drove the car up there and pulled it around just to say good luck for the tour,” O’Connor said.
“And then two minutes later, Joe comes walking out and he’s like, ‘Mate, I tried to call you’. I was like, ‘Oh, you can give me the bad news now then’. He’s like, ‘No, you’re in, but you better get home and pack your bags, we’ve got an hour until the release’. I’m still a bit rattled, as you can probably tell.”
O’Connor could barely believe what he heard.
“I thought he was taking the piss,” O’Connor said.
“Because everyone was already at the hotel and everyone knew. The boys always say if you get a call, no news is good news, apparently. So, he said he’d given me a call.
“I literally hadn’t seen it, because I’d been in the visa office. He shook my hand and told me, and I double-checked. I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s serious’.”
Schmidt added: “James was unaware that he’d been selected until I saw him this morning.
“He was actually just in passing talking to some of the players and the players said to him, wow, great that you’re back in the fold. He said, I was just in town and saw you guys and thought I’d have a chat. I said, ‘No, no, you’re back in the fold’.
“He’s pretty happy to be in the fold and immediately has a spring in his step, which is great.
“He said that (he thought I was joking). The two boys who were with me just looked at him and said, ‘No, he doesn’t joke’, which I took to heart really. I wouldn’t say I’m completely humourless, but maybe that self-awareness needs to be a little bit deeper.”
It is a remarkable recall for a player who hasn’t represented the Wallabies in three years, and had all but given up hope of featuring in the Lions series after being left out of Schmidt’s squad for last weekend’s game against Fiji.
With Noah Lolesio suffering an injury in that game that has ruled him out of the series, Schmidt – after talking to O’Connor’s Crusaders teammate David Havili – opted to go with experience over 24-year-old contender Tane Edmed, who had been in the Wallabies’ training camp.
“Obviously, we started with Noah and with his injury, we needed to replace him,” Schmidt said.
“Our tens are young in experience anyway, so to get James to come in, talk to Tom Lynagh a little bit around the influence he had on him and his development, and that was really positive.
“I talked to David Havili, who’s obviously in with the AUNZ team at the moment, and I’ve coached Davey and would have a lot of time for Davey’s opinion and he said that James was a real help with the two young tens at the Crusaders.
“So from that perspective, they were positives and at the same time, James, of his own right, had played pretty solidly coming on in the back end of games, mostly for the Crusaders.
“Just a calm voice and a voice of experience. One of the things I’ve learned in a long coaching career … is that there’s a lot of player-to-player coaching, particularly when you’ve got good players with good experience.
“The time that he can spend out just reviewing training sessions or decisions with the tens, I think that will be really useful for us. He sees the game well. I think experience allows you to see the game a little bit better just because you’ve experienced some circumstances where you’ve made good or bad decisions or the game has swung on moments where you’ve had to make decisions.
“Having been there and done that, he can pass on that experience in a pretty calm manner. He knows Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson well enough that he will pick those two guys up and be really useful.”
But O’Connor, who started all three Tests against the Lions in 2013 at five-eighth, is not here just to be a mentor to Donaldson and Lynagh.
“Of course I want the spot,” O’Connor said.
“But I think maybe the other guys have the first bite of the cherry. They’re in the first squad. But even just anything I can do to help, and that’s what I’ve said to Joe in the past, any little bit of knowledge I can share.
“I know how big of an occasion it is. It’s bigger than a World Cup. I thought I took it for granted. I just was not aware of it. It comes around every 12 years, so it’s not something even any of these guys have been a part of. And you get one shot at it, usually.
“So you want your aim to be true.”
LIONS NOT FAZED BY SHOCK WALLABIES INCLUSION
—Julian Linden
James O’Connor’s shock inclusion in the Wallabies’ squad to tackle the British & Irish Lions hasn’t set off any alarm bells among the tourists.
Whether it is their sheer cockiness, or a sign of respect to O’Connor’s longevity in the game, the Lions were unconcerned about his selection, saying they had already had a hunch it would happen after Australia’s first-choice five-eighth Noah Lolesio was ruled out of the series after undergoing neck surgery.
“No real surprises,” the Lions’ assistant coach Simon Easterby said.
“Obviously, they’ve lost Lolesio, which is a big blow for them, he’s a great player.
“But someone like James O’Connor coming in with his experience along with the other 10s that they’ve got (helps the Wallabies).”
O’Connor is a familiar figure to the Lions as he was the Wallabies’ playmaker during their last tour of Australia in 2013.
While it’s rare for players to be involved in international matches over a 12 year span, the Lions have called up Owen Farrell, who also played in the 2013 series, and Easterby said experienced players could make a difference.
“James is versatile. He can play more than one position,” Easterby said.
“I guess it’s probably as we’d expect and they’re looking for a bit of experience as well as the sort of youth that they’ve got in their squad.”
The Lions still have one match to play before they take on the Wallabies, against a formidable combined Australia-New Zealand Invitational team at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
The AUNZ squad is stacked with 17 players who have represented either the Wallabies or the All Blacks, including several who were close to making the Australian squad for next weekend’s opening Test.
“They’re not a team that will have played or obviously trained too much together so that gives us a great opportunity,” Easterby said.
“It’s a different challenge in terms of the individuals that they’ve got in their group and what they’ll be able to do as individuals.
“What they won’t have done is have a lot of time together. I feel that can be an opportunity for us to put a lot of our stuff into practice but it’ll be a great challenge against what looks like a really strong squad.”
While the Lions have shown that they are a strong attacking unit, they are wary about the dangers of allowing the Aussies and Kiwis to play an unstructured Barbarians style of rugby. That would be great for the fans but would play into the hands of the locals so Easterby said the Lions needed to stick to their strengths.
“It’s important that we hold strong to what we know has worked for us and keep improving both sides of the ball,” he said.
“It’s important you don’t fall into a trap of trying to play a certain style.
“I think we’ve shown already that when we’ve got ball in hand and we can create quick ball, then we can play a really expansive attacking game.
“But it’s important that we earn the right to do that and do the right things at the right time and that’s never been any different throughout this tour.”
WALLABIES BOMBSHELL: VETERAN’S SHOCK RECALL TO FACE LIONS
James O’Connor has earned a stunning recall to the Wallabies and could face off against the British & Irish Lions 12 years after losing a series against them.
The 35-year-old has been named in Joe Schmidt’s 36-man squad for the Lions, and will aid playmakers Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh after starting five-eighth Noah Lolesio was ruled out of the series following a neck injury suffered against Fiji last weekend.
Wayward prop Taniela Tupou has also been picked despite his erratic form for NSW this season, while lock Josh Canham has been chosen at the expense of Darcy Swain and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
O’Connor has not played for Australia since 2022, when Dave Rennie was coach, but has forced his way back into the frame following an impressive season in Super Rugby in which he helped the Crusaders win the title.
Tane Edmed, who was in the Wallabies’ training squad throughout the past month, has been overlooked.
Interestingly, Schmidt has not named a captain of the squad, despite Harry Wilson – who has skippered the side since last year – being named.
O’Connor’s experience will be valuable to an inexperienced playmaking cohort, with Donaldson making only a handful of starts at No.10 in the Wallabies jersey, while Lynagh has never started at international level.
In the 2013 series, which Australia lost 2-1, O’Connor was handed the pivotal No.10 jersey by coach Robbie Deans despite never having played the position at Test level, and he has since revealed how raw and uneducated he was about the demands of the role.
He has since evolved his game with stints in French and English rugby, and now in New Zealand alongside a host of All Blacks.
Joining O’Connor as the only other member of the Wallabies squad to feature in the 2013 series is prop James Slipper.
The Wallabies’ record-holder for most Test appearances, Slipper (144) and O’Connor could join legendary backrower George Smith as the only other Australians to play in two successive Lions series.
Eligible players including prop Aidan Ross and backrower Pete Samu have not been included in the squad. They will play for the AUNZ team alongside Edmed and Salakaia-Loto against the Lions in Adelaide on Saturday, and could yet play a role for Australia should there be injuries.
“As Wallabies coaches, we have tried to balance continuity with form and freshness, but there were some very tight calls,” Schmidt said.
“We’re conscious of how special it is to play the British & Irish Lions, so for those selected in the squad, they’ll be competing for Test jerseys, while also trying to help others prepare. We need to improve our accuracy and cohesion with a very short runway leading up to the first Test here in eight days.
“We are excited by what’s to come.”
Experienced scrumhalf Nic White is retained in the squad, having missed out on Wallabies selection in 2013. France-based Will Skelton, who played against the Lions for the Waratahs 12 years ago, has also been named.
Lynagh is one step closer to becoming the first Wallaby to follow in his father’s footsteps in playing against the Lions, with his father Michael having pulled on the gold jersey when the side toured in 1989.
Brumbies speedster Corey Toole and Western Force backrower Nick Champion de Crespigny are the only two uncapped players named in the squad, which comprises 20 forwards and 16 backs.
The side will remain in Brisbane ahead of the series opener at Suncorp Stadium next Saturday night before the two sides meet at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday July 26, with the final Test at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Saturday August 2.
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