{"id":66757,"date":"2025-08-14T16:14:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66757\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T16:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:14:06","slug":"wallabies-recall-veteran-james-oconnor-at-no-10-for-south-africa-showdown-australia-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66757\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies recall veteran James O\u2019Connor at No 10 for South Africa showdown | Australia rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran James O\u2019Connor has been called on to take on the playmaking duties as the Wallabies seek to build on the impetus of their third Test win over the Lions <\/a>with a rare victory in South Africa at the start of the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

But a plan for the 35-year-old O\u2019Connor, back in the green and gold after three years, to share the No 10 role has had to be shelved after Ben Donaldson went down injured in training on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The idea had been for O\u2019Connor to play the first 40 minutes with Donaldson coming on after the break but the injury has left the Wallabies looking at risky alternatives in the playmaking department as they get set to face the world champions in Johannesburg on Saturday (Sunday AEST).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the second to last play of the training, Donno kicked the ball and pulled up short so we don\u2019t know what the extent of the injury is,\u201d coach Joe Schmidt said after naming the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only been back from training for about an hour so he will get a scan now and we\u2019ll have a definitive picture because we need to know for next week as well whether we need more cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cNic White can cover No 10 and is astute enough to do so, Andrew Kellaway has the skill set as well if we go with what we\u2019ve got at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the 35-year-old O\u2019Connor at fly-half is the only change to the starting XV that defeated the British & Irish Lions 22-12 in Sydney a fortnight ago, as he comes into the side after Tom Lynagh suffered a concussion in that encouraging victory.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, who helped New Zealand\u2019s Crusaders win the Super Rugby title<\/a> this season, hasn\u2019t played for the Wallabies since 2022. But he still looks the safest pair of hands after all the fly-half woes Schmidt has had to contend withfollowing the loss of first choice Noah Lolesio with neck trouble.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s halfback partner will be another veteran, White, who has doubled back on his decision to retire after the Lions series when first choice Jake Gordon got injured.<\/p>\n

Donaldson\u2019s injury has necessitated a late change to the planned bench with Schmidt having to replace the versatile back with loose forward Nick Champion de Crespigny.<\/p>\n

That means Australia will go from a five-three to six-two split between forwards and backs among the replacements.<\/p>\n

Yet Schmidt sounded upbeat as he noted: \u201cThe group has had a good week of preparation, adjusting pretty well to the time zone and the altitude well here in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s not many bigger Tests than playing South Africa on their home turf and we know we\u2019re going to need to be at our best on Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia are seeking their first win at Ellis Park since 1963, when they beat South Africa 11-9.<\/p>\n

Australia team:<\/p>\n

15\u2013Tom Wright, 14\u2013Max Jorgensen, 13\u2013Joseph Suaalii, 12\u2013Len Ikitau, 11\u2013Dylan Pietsch, 10\u2013James O\u2019Connor, 9\u2013Nic White, 8\u2013Harry Wilson (captain), 7\u2013Fraser McReight, 6\u2013Tom Hooper, 5\u2013Will Skelton, 4\u2013Nick Frost, 3\u2013Taniela Tupou, 2\u2013Billy Pollard, 1\u2013James Slipper<\/p>\n

Replacements: 16\u2013Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17\u2013Angus Bell, 18\u2013Zane Nonggorr, 19\u2013Jeremy Williams, 20\u2013Langi Gleeson, 21\u2013Nick Champion de Crespigny, 22\u2013Tate McDermott, 23\u2013Andrew Kellaway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran James O\u2019Connor has been called on to take on the playmaking duties as the Wallabies seek to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-66757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}