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Just when the ARU needed to show who was boss with some bottle, the governing body of rugby in Australia has stood down the recalcitrant James O’Connor from the South African and Argentina legs of the Rugby Championship.
The ARU has bashed him with a feather.
You can see where the ARU is coming from. By suspending O’Connor, the Western Force is highly unlikely to sign up the 23-year-old, leaving him rugby homeless after the Rebels sacked him during the season, and the Reds, Waratahs, and Brumbies don’t want a bar of him.
That scenario automatically wipes out O’Connor’s ARU contract, so the ARU has taken the soft option, instead of turning O’Connor’s contract into confetti.
It will be interesting to see the reaction of the senior Wallabies to the feather bashing.
Will they view the ARU as weak and lose respect for their boss, or just be grateful O’Connor won’t be around for the next two Tests to stuff up team culture?
Even more interesting when you listen to newcomer Israel Folau calling on his Wallaby team-mates to bond better off the field, to improve the on-field performance.
Folau’s genuine plea should not fall on deaf ears. He obviously can’t understand why Wallaby team culture is at such a low level.
Nor can anyone else.
What an unholy mess.
Judging by Roarer posts, O’Connor was more than a handful at Nudgee in the school first XV, which produced two Wallaby captains in Mark Loane, and Rocky Elsom, plus hardmen Kevin Ryan, and Duncan Hall, as well as current Wallabies Joe Tomane and Don Shipperley.
Former Wallaby coach Robbie Deans was also far too lenient on O’Connor’s on-going antics, giving him a virtual licence to keep misbehaving.
And to cap all that off, both James Horwill and Nathan Sharpe this week have made it crystal clear O’Connor has lost the respect of the senior Wallabies.
In short, there’s no where left for O’Connor to hide, he is stuffed right across the board.
But this whole sorry and sordid story will be remembered for what the ARU didn’t do, and that was to show O’Connor the exit door, effectively leaving it to the Western Force to do their dirty work.
By the end of the day, from wherever the net result comes from, it’s game, set, and match for James O’Connor in Australian rugby.