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The 'almost magnetic' partnership that could guide the Wallabies to victory over Los Pumas
James O’Connor has lauded an “almost magnetic” understanding between young centres Jordan Petaia and Hunter Paisami as the Wallabies prepare for their final test of the year, against Argentina in Sydney on Saturday night.
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The veteran playmaker, who is set to return from injury, said he took Paisami aside after his Wallabies squad selection and told him of the potential he saw in his pairing with Petaia.
While 20-year-old Petaia was already earmarked as an emerging superstar, Paisami, 22, has been one of the finds of 2020 after making his Super Rugby debut with Queensland and going on to play in four of five tests so far.
O’Connor has watched their development close up at the Reds and predicted a long and successful centre partnership.
“I actually had this conversation with Hunter at the start of the campaign as the best element of what he and Jordie bring is that they complement each other,” O’Connor said on Monday.
“They can play up and down straight, they can get into wide channels, they can both hit and one of the big other things is that they have a pretty good understanding of each other.
“For me as a 10, they make my job really easy … these guys have their own ideas and they’re finding each other on the field more often then not.
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“They’re gravitating towards each other, almost magnetic.”
O’Connor missed the last three tests with a knee injury and then a foot issue, which he said he aggravated when trying to return too early so he didn’t lose his grip on the No.10 jersey.
Makeshift five-eighth Reece Hodge has excelled at five eighth in the past two games as the Wallabies posted a win over New Zealand and then a frustrating draw with the Pumas.
A number of fans noticed this about Clarke in the final All Blacks test of the season. #NZLvARG https://t.co/JjZ46iMNmz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 29, 2020
O’Connor remained hopeful he would get the nod for the final test.
“You never want to give someone an opportunity in your spot and that’s why I pushed to rush back the week earlier from my injury,” the 30-year-old said.
“Hodgey has done a really good job but I’m still putting my hand up to get that No.10 jersey back.”
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O’Connor said the Australians wanted to finish the year on a high and use it as a springboard into 2021 and he felt coach Dave Rennie would name a full-strength line-up.
A win will see them finish a six-match campaign with two wins, two draws and two losses.
“This game is a must-win game for us, it’s very important for our campaign and moving forward as a group,” he said.
“It’s not just finishing this campaign (well), it’s a springboard for us into next year.
“It’s not about handing out a jersey, it’s about winning this game and taking forward what we’ve learnt.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments