Wallabies legend David Campese has hit out at Joe Schmidt after reports suggested that James O\u2019Connor would be starting against the Springboks.<\/p>\n
It is being claimed in Australia that the 35-year-old will not only make his first Test appearance since 2022 but also do it as part of the run-on side.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor has been out in the cold over the past few years but an impressive season for the Crusaders, allied by an injury to Noah Lolesio, brought him back into contention.<\/p>\n
Injuries open the door<\/p>\n
Despite making the wider training squad, the playmaker did not feature in the British and Irish Lions series, with Tom Lynagh getting the nod to start and Ben Donaldson in reserve on the bench.<\/p>\n
Lynagh\u2019s injury has well and truly opened the door, however, and it appears as though he will start the Rugby Championship<\/a> clash with the Springboks when the Wallabies<\/a> team is announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n That is much to the frustration of Campese<\/a>, who screenshotted the story\u2019s headline on social media and slammed Schmidt\u2019s<\/a> call.<\/p>\n \u201cI can see why Joe Schmidt has never won a RWC. He has no idea about rugby. Clueless. This shows us why,\u201d he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n Campese is pleased that O\u2019Connor is finally getting his chance this year and insists that the experienced fly-half should have been involved in the Lions series instead of Lynagh.<\/p>\n \u201cVery happy for James who should have been on the bench for the Lions. Ben at 10,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor\u2019s best work this season has come from the bench, but Schmidt has taken the interesting decision to start him against South Africa in what will be his final year as Wallabies head coach.<\/p>\n The New Zealander will hand over to Les Kiss midway through 2026 but Campese is not confident things will improve, adding: \u201cUnder Kiss it is not going to look any better.\u201d<\/p>\n