Lions could face a 'Reds-heavy' Wallaby team with young talent thriving
James O’Connor has called for a “Reds-heavy” Wallabies squad and new national coach Joe Schmidt to pick and stick ahead of next year’s British and Irish Lions visit.
The injured playmaker is yet to feature this season but it hasn’t slowed the Queensland Reds, who sit second thanks to three wins and a golden point loss to the unbeaten Hurricanes.
O’Connor (hamstring) is nearing a return but unlikely to feature against the Western Force in Perth on Saturday.
Instead he’s leant into his mentoring of young five-eighths Tom Lynagh and Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.
“It’s a big part of my role, that senior voice in the team,” O’Connor said.
“I’ve been driving this group from the front for a long time and it’s something Les (Kiss) and the other coaches, they’ve been asking me a lot of questions.
“I feel very seen and I really enjoy helping.”
The Reds have comfortably beaten the NSW Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels while also holding off the Chiefs, scoring wonderful tries and digging in on defence.
“The biggest thing this year is you can see we’re playing together, as a team,” O’Connor said.
“We’ve built on our base game and the little moments, we’re winning. Everyone’s on the same page.
“There’s alot of guys in our pack that’ll be putting their hands up; I would like to see a Reds-heavy Wallaby team.
“Continue to play consistently and showcase what our unique players can do, it’ll make a great case for us.”
The versatile 33-year-old, who played against the Lions when they last visited in 2013, said Schmidt had the chance to thwart the giants with patience at the selection table in a busy Test year.
“It was a very special occasion and one I’d love to be a part of again,” O’Connor reflected.
“It’ll be important to select a team and build combinations that can set us apart from them.
The Wallabies will play nine Tests between July and September before their end-of-year tour of Europe.
“Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales are all formidable Test nations but when we come together we’ve a team strong enough to beat them,” O’Connor said.
“We’re seeing an improvement at Super level and that’s where our mindset is at the moment.”
The Lions will play three Tests against the Wallabies as well as five games against Australia’s Super Rugby Pacific outfits in June-August next year.
Comments on RugbyPass
I like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
40 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
41 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
41 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
41 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
40 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to comments