{"id":118957,"date":"2025-09-04T19:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T19:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/118957\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T19:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T19:21:07","slug":"wallabies-bench-oconnor-recall-controversial-lions-series-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/118957\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies bench O&#8217;Connor, recall controversial Lions series player"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Schmidt had made three changes to his Wallabies line-up to face Argentina in Round Three of the Rugby Championship \u2013 and also recalled Carlo Tizzano for bench duty in his first involvement since the fall-out from that much-debated breakdown against the British and Irish Lions.<\/p>\n<p>The Wallabies were defending a second Test lead in Melbourne on July 26 when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/carlo-tizzano\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">back-rower Tizzano<\/a> was cleared out at a ruck by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/jac-morgan\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jac Morgan<\/a> in the build-up to the Hugo Keenan try that clinched the Test series for the Lions with one match to spare.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan\u2019s tackle and the reaction of Tizzano to the collision ignited a huge debate, which included Australia head coach Schmidt speaking angrily at his post-game media briefing at the MCG.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/wallabies-star-the-target-of-online-abuse-as-joe-schmidt-rubbishes-carlo-tizzano-diving-accusations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The controversy left Tizzano accused of diving<\/a> and subjected to an outpouring of social media abuse, and he was stood down from the series finale in Sydney and has since missed the opening two rounds of the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson restored as captain<\/p>\n<p>With Australia now in Townsville, preparing for Round Three after winning one match in South Africa and narrowly losing another, Tizzano is poised for his first action in six weeks as he has been selected on the bench in place of Nicholas Champion de Crespigny, providing back-up to a starting XV showing three changes from the 22-30 loss in Cape Town.<\/p>\n<p>The fit-again Harry Wilson has been restored as captain at number eight, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/wallabies-squad-11-man-injury-list-will-skeltons-absence-explained-as-returnees-bolster-joe-schmidts-team-but-selection-conundrum-remains\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the unavailable second-rower Will Skelton<\/a> missing out in the only change to the run-on pack. Wilson\u2019s inclusion sees back-rower Tom Hooper shifted to lock.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/wed-had-enough-of-being-bullied-wallabies-legend-lifts-lid-on-australias-stunning-mid-season-transformation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018We\u2019d had enough of being bullied\u2019 \u2013 Wallabies legend lifts lid on Australia\u2019s stunning mid-season transformation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the backs, Tom Lynagh has recovered from his Lions series injury and will start at No.10 in place of the benched James O\u2019Connor while Andrew Kellaway, a sub last time out against the Springboks, will start in place of long-term injury victim Tom Wright.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor\u2019s demotion to the bench has resulted in the exclusion of Tane Edmed from the matchday squad, while Filipo Daugunu has been named 23rd man with sub Kellaway now set to start.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wallabies.rugby\/news\/wallabies-team-to-play-argentina-in-townsville-202593\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">In a statement<\/a>, Schmidt said: \u201cThe players have reassembled after a few days\u2019 break, following our two games in South Africa, and worked their way through a very warm week here in Townsville.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLos Pumas are a combative and skilled side, and they will be confident after their recent performances. We know we are going to need to be at our very best on Saturday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team<\/p>\n<p>Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Tom Hooper, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 Tom Robertson<br \/>Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 James O\u2019Connor, 23 Filipo Daugunu<\/p>\n<p>Date: Saturday, September 6<br \/>Venue: Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville<br \/>Kick-off: 14:30 (AUS), 4:30 (GMT), 16:30 (NZL), 6:30 (RSA), 1:30 (ARG)<br \/>Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)<br \/>Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (RFU), Sam Grove-White (SRU)<br \/>TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)<br \/>FPRO: Glenn Newman (NZR)<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/springboks-team-v-all-blacks-rassie-erasmus-makes-shock-captaincy-call-despite-siya-kolisis-return-as-rookie-is-backed-for-eden-park-showdown\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Springboks team v All Blacks: Rassie Erasmus makes shock captaincy call despite Siya Kolisi\u2019s return as rookie is backed for Eden Park showdown<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt had made three changes to his Wallabies line-up to face Argentina in Round Three of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,43,818,1182,44,17140,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-118957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby-championship","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}