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Melbourne’s Test five-eighth James O’Connor has recovered from injury to set up a mouth-watering Super Rugby clash with Queensland’s Wallaby wannabe Quade Cooper.
O’Connor was put through a probing full-contact training session at the Rebels headquarters on Wednesday and barring any setback will start at No.10 on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.
The 22-year-old hasn’t played since suffering a chest injury three rounds ago, missing the Rebels’ rousing wins over the Stormers and NSW Waratahs.
He desperately needs more game time at five-eighth before next month’s Test series against the British and Irish Lions.
O’Connor was preferred ahead of Cooper by Australia coach Robbie Deans, who cited his superior defence among other reasons for the selection.
That summation led to Reds coach Ewen McKenzie defending Cooper and firing back that O’Connor was “speed-humped” by Blues centre Rene Ranger in the match he was injured in.
McKenzie on Wednesday said he was “not too fussed” if O’Connor turned out for the Rebels.
“They’ve been doing well in his absence so I’ll be interested to see what they come up with as a combination. We’ll play whoever, we don’t mind,” he said.
“We’ve got some strong thoughts about how we’ll need to play the game … we’ll just concentrate on what we’re doing.”
The battle between the five-eighths is just one of the highly anticipated duels with former Red Scott Higginbotham leading the Rebels.
With Deans only naming one halfback in his 25-man squad in the Reds’ Will Genia, the stakes are high for Melbourne’s Nick Phipps.
Coach Damien Hill believed Phipps and the Brumbies’ Nic White were ahead of French-based halfback Luke Burgess in the race for the remaining position up for grabs when six more players are added to the Wallabies squad early next month.
“If he wins the battle against Genia then it should put him in good contention for the spot that’s remaining,” Hill said.
“My understanding is that it’s a competition between Nic White and Nick Phipps and Robbie’s using the next couple of games to get a better read on both of them.”
Hill said it was also an opportunity for young Rebels lock Hugh Pyle to prove himself against Queensland’s Test duo James Horwill and Rob Simmons and be named a bolter for the squad.
Melbourne winger Cooper Vuna has overcome a calf problem but hasn’t been able to force himself back into their winning squad.
“Lachie’s (Mitchell) been doing well and so has Tommy English and Kimami (Sitauti) has added off the bench.
“We want to see a good week’s training and I will talk to him then.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.