By David Beniuk
July 19th 2009 @ 8:14am
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O’Connor learns all about the big time
The Wallabies‘ gamble with two youthful backs on the bench badly misfired on Saturday night as James O’Connor and Will Genia received baptisms of fire in the Eden Park cauldron.
Nineteen-year-old O’Connor replaced Berrick Barnes at inside centre for the final quarter of the match, just as the All Blacks took a 19-16 lead on the way to their 22-16 victory.
Coach Robbie Deans had spoken of his confidence in the rookie in the lead-up to his biggest game after O’Connor had burst onto the scene as the youngest-ever scorer of a Test a hat-trick against Italy in June.
But the blond-haired whiz kid was taught a lesson about the big time as he struggled, along with the rest of his team, under some relentless All Blacks pressure.
He knocked on cold 30 metres from his own line in the 67th minute before throwing a poor pass that put his team under pressure in their own zone three minutes later.
He briefly made amends with a raking kick which New Zealand’s Kieran Read knocked on to give the visitors an attacking position, but within a minute had blown that with a pressure pass captain Stirling Mortlock could not handle.
“(It was) a great earthing experience for James,” Deans said.
“He’ll be better for that.”
Australia had gone into the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations opener with a 5-2 bench split, with O’Connor and Genia, making his Test debut, the only backs among the reserves.
Genia finally made that debut in the 74th minute and displayed some nice touches as the Australians desperately tried to pull the game out of the fire and win at Eden Park for the first time since 1986.
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(9)
LeftArmSpinner said | July 19th 2009 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Yep, James O’Connor probably shouldn’t try walking on water in the near future. Frankly, he returned to earth last night, and as robbie said, nothing wrong with that.
katzilla said | July 19th 2009 @ 9:09am | Report comment
He should have been played wider in the backline. It was always going to be too much pressure to expect him to make plays.
Deans should have shifted everyone in and put him on the wing. IMO
formerflanker said | July 19th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
O’Connor at inside centre? Has he ever played or trained there? Putting him on at i.c. was a result of the imbalance in the reserves bench, with Phil Waugh not even used on the night. In retrospect, it would have better to have Ryan Cross on the bench so that the 3 backs reserves would then have covered half, back three, and centres. After Burgess’ very poor game last night and an indifferent S14 season, is Deans going to stick with him? The temptation to move Giteau to half and bring barnes to 5/8 must be tempting, since our depth of centres seems better than our depth of halves.
TommyM said | July 19th 2009 @ 11:49am | Report comment
Formerflanker- JOC has played ALL his rugby at 10 previous to the Force and then PRIMARILY at 12 for the Force…
Jolly Jupes said | July 19th 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Poor selection was a significant issue. The bench situation was rubbish with only two rookie backs to choose from. I hope we dont do the Australian thing of kicking O’Conner while he is down as he does not pick the team. Genia did not get enough time given Burgess’s form but it was his first test. Waugh never got on so the three openside system was rubbish as well – Good hype but useless in reality
formerflanker said | July 19th 2009 @ 4:33pm | Report comment
Thanks for the information TommyM – you are right. It looked to me that JOC was out of his depth at 12, and I would have thought he was best served by being brought on in the position he did so well at against Italy, at fullback.
Jolly Jupes – yes, don’t criticise JOC too much too soon – I remember the shocker that Matt Giteau had in his first test and now look at him. JOC could end up just as influemtial for Australian rugby.
Justin said | July 19th 2009 @ 4:52pm | Report comment
Huge questions must be asked about Deans selections, tactics and subs.
* 3 7s and one not used.
* 5 2 forward split
* A soft (Mumm) replacement in the 2nd row when some starch (Kimlin perhaps) was required.
* Barnes subbed? Why? Mitchell should have been subbed and move ACC to wing and JoC to 15
* Genia should have been hooked at halftime. He cannot do the basics and the extras were not there last night. Genia noticeably was much better at passing than Burgess.
* Ball should have been kicked long in 1st half with chase, not box kicks and running from inside your own 40m. Save that for into the wind. Lineout was working so play to it.
Sam said | July 19th 2009 @ 8:55pm | Report comment
The little amount of time Genia spent on the field was very noticeable compared to that of Burgess’. For one there were no miss guided slow looping passes putting Gitaeu under extreme pressure. Yes James O’Conner had a rough start with a under 10’s knock on and a shocker pass. Also you would probably find the Wallabies should not have stood so deep when playing into the wind.
Genia should have been on at half time, if not earlier to show Deans has no time for people who turn up with there C rate game to the biggest stage.
Also the forwards need a rocket so they hit the rucks with some intention of winning the ball back. When you turn up with only a 80-90% effort you go home losers and that is what has happened!
Even looser said | July 20th 2009 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
This Genia bloke seems to be gets pats on the back from Roarers for his ability to fire out a flat straight pass. Whilst I know little about him, his pass compared to LB’s was like chalk & cheese.
And he didn’t opt for the highly ineffective Box Kick with the manatory telegraphing that our man Luke seems to favour. I’m already liking the bloke.