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Down in the dumps and in need of a lift, Joe Schmidt is once again set to throw James O’Connor in the deep end in an attempt to turn the Wallabies’ flagging season around.

Having called up O’Connor to face the All Blacks just days after he arrived in London, it’s understood Schmidt has once again handed the veteran playmaker the No.10 jersey despite him not being in the squad to face Italy.

But after Carter Gordon tweaked his calf injury during the 26-19 loss to Italy in Udine, Schmidt has asked O’Connor to play the Mr. Fix-it role against world No.3 Ireland on Sunday (7:10am AEDT).

It will be O’Connor’s seventh Test of the year and first since he came off the bench against the All Blacks in Perth.

It’s believed Tane Edmed will come off the bench in Dublin.

Joe Schmidt says he needs the Wallabies to lift for their final two Tests of the year. Photo: Julius Dimataga, Rugby Australia

Outside back Max Jorgensen and Len Ikitau, who also hasn’t played for the Wallabies since their 28-14 loss to New Zealand but was on deck in Italy last week, are also expected to return.

The Wallabies are also expected to make a couple of changes up front to freshen up his pack.

Schmidt will name his Wallabies squad on Friday at 1am AEDT.

After overseeing a couple of famous wins over the Lions and Springboks, Schmidt’s Wallabies have lost five of their past six Tests and will be desperate to stop their rot in Dublin in their penultimate fixture of the year.

The Wallabies will finish their year with a difficult assignment against Fabian Galthie’s French in Paris.

Ikitau, who hasn’t played for the Wallabies since he was crowned John Eales Medallist, told reporters in Dublin earlier this week that the side had been boosted by O’Connor’s return.

“It does help having Rabs [O’Connor] back in the squad,” Ikitau said.

“Older head, he’s very experienced, steering the boys around and obviously kind of helping Tane [Edmed] along the way, which has been good.”

James O’Connor is set to return to the Wallabies’ matchday team to take on Ireland in Dublin. Photo: Julius Dimataga, Rugby Australia

The Wallabies’ attack has become increasingly narrow without O’Connor in the team.

Former Wallabies inside back Matt Giteau said he was left questioning what Schmidt’s side was trying to achieve.

“It felt like we never threw anything at them,” Giteau said on the KOKO podcast. “[It’s hard to] understand what the actual game plan is and what they’re trying to achieve.”

Their only points against England came via an intercept to Harry Potter, while two of the Wallabies’ three tries against Italy came from front-rowers.

The other try was controversially awarded when Gordon pounced on a loose ball that had been “stripped” by the Italians.

Having kicked the ball out on the full on four occasions, Ikitau said much of the Wallabies’ review had been around playing in the right ends of the field.

“I think we can do a better job of controlling where we want to play, and then just making sure that we’re getting opportunities to get the ball to an edge,” Ikitau said.

“We’ve got some awesome wingers who in space are pretty hard to tackle, so it’s just making sure that we’re able to share the load within the forwards and then just taking those opportunities.”