{"id":72519,"date":"2025-08-17T03:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T03:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/72519\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T03:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T03:48:09","slug":"joe-schmidt-makes-rare-eve-of-test-change-to-wallabies-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/72519\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt makes rare eve of Test change to Wallabies team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Wallabies have had a rare eve-of-Test change of heart, deciding to bring in international novice Tane Edmed<\/a> as bench cover for veteran James O\u2019Connor<\/a> in their Rugby Championship<\/a> opener against South Africa<\/a> in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Eyebrows had been raised on Thursday when coach Joe Schmidt announced a team with no specialist flyhalf back-up for his veteran playmaker O\u2019Connor, who\u2019s been recalled for his first Test in three years.<\/p>\n

Schmidt had suggested scumhalf Nic White<\/a> or outside back Andrew Kellaway<\/a> were equipped as fill-in No.10s even though neither had played there in their pro careers, with his team selection appearing very risky at the Ellis Park home of the world champions.<\/p>\n

But after an overnight rethink, Schmidt named one-cap Edmed on Friday as cover for 35-year-old O\u2019Connor, putting him on the bench in place of the originally selected replacement loose forward Nick Champion de Crespigny.<\/p>\n

If the Wallabies stick by their original plan to have O\u2019Connor playing just the first half, that would mean Edmed coming on for the second 40, having previously played only three minutes as a replacement in the green-and-gold before he got injured against Ireland<\/a> in Dublin late last year.<\/p>\n

Schmidt\u2019s late volte face, announced by the Wallabies on social media, was highly unusual after his team had already been named, even though the New Zealander had signalled on Thursday he was pondering potential late switches after Ben Donaldson<\/a>, his original replacement 10, got injured late in training.<\/p>\n

Now, what had originally been listed as a surprise 6-2 split between forwards and backs on the bench has again reverted to a 5-3.<\/p>\n

The No.10 berth has become a headache for Schmidt. His first-choice Noah Lolesio<\/a> is out with neck trouble and Tom Lynagh<\/a> suffered a concussion in their third-Test win over the British & Irish Lions<\/a> in Sydney a fortnight ago, before Donaldson\u2019s latest setback.<\/p>\n

\u201cDono went down in last-minute training on Thursday afternoon, which wasn\u2019t ideal after the team has been announced internally,\u201d explained captain Harry Wilson<\/a> at a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe named Crep (Champion de Crespigny) but the coach has had a few meetings overnight and again this morning to work out what would be the best replacement and decided to put in Tane, which he\u2019s really excited about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of confidence in him, he\u2019s been around the group now for a little while and what he\u2019s put in on the training park has been first class,\u201d Wilson added.<\/p>\n

Wilson also has great faith in O\u2019Connor, who\u2019s been important as a \u2018finisher\u2019 for the New Zealand<\/a> Super Rugby outfit, the Crusaders. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter three years, I know he\u2019s really excited to be out there. He\u2019s 35 years old. He\u2019s got plenty of experience. He\u2019s got plenty of confidence, and we can\u2019t wait to see him go out there and do his job,\u201d said Wilson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallabies have had a rare eve-of-Test change of heart, deciding to bring in international novice Tane Edmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-72519","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\/72519","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=72519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}