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Ten years on, James O’Connor will return to where he first played for the Wallabies as a No.10 when he faces Wales in Cardiff on Sunday.

O’Connor’s return to the No.10 jersey this campaign has been underwhelming in the two losses to Scotland and England, although he beieves he improved game-on-game and backs himself to continue through to the 2023 Worldf Cup.

O’Connor accepts that there is more pressure on a No.10 than any other player – and he has been criticised for playing too deep and lacking impact after replacing Quade Cooper following the Rugby Championship.

The Queensland Reds playmaker was honest in appraising his own form in a Wallabies prerss conference released on Wednesday.

“That’s the way it is, you’re controlling the troops on the field,” O’Connor said of the focus on the flyhalves.

“From my point of view, probably Scotland was a slow start. I felt like I really eased into that game and probably took a little bit too long to flatten the attack up.

“And the England game I thought I built on that.

“It’s the fable of the man who built the house on sand. If you don’t have the correct discipline and if your foundations aren’t strong, then you won’t win Test match footy, especially up here, where the margins for error are so small.”

(Photo by Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)

O’Connor had some interesting thoughts on the difference of playing in the northern hemisphere compared to the south.

“Back in the southern hemisphere, it’s a lot quicker footy and there are a lot more opportunities where you can pull the trigger and really score tries,” he said.

“Over here you only get a couple and if you’re not ready to take those, if you’re not in the moment, then you’re going to miss them.

“The margins are very small over here. Playing this sort of footy it’s a huge territory-based game.

“It’s a game based off errors whereas back home we’re trying more so to manipulate defences and open up more and create attacking opportunities.

“Over here it’s probably flipped the other the other way. But you still have to have the ball to win the game. You still want to dominate possession as well.”

He suggested the penalty count of 18-9 against the Wallabies in the England game made it hard for him to play at his best.

“We were just piggybacking them into the game, anytime we did build we would lose it,” he said.

“There’s a lot of good things we can take out of that game and also a heap of good things we can take out of this year.

“It’s two losses and two that we will learn big lessons from and we already have, we’ve already reviewed those games a lot and seen a lot of scope of where there are lessons to be learned.

“This week is all about just putting it together. Finding that balance of how we play and also playing the conditions and finishing the tour on a high.

“We feel we’ve had a good year and we’ve really built this year. So we want to show the public you know what we can do again.”

Last week was O’Connor’s first match against England at Twickenham since 2009 and this week he is back at Cardiff where he began in 2011.

“It was a short Spring Tour after the 2011 World Cup,” O’Connor recalled. “It was all attack, we went all out and it was a great experience for me.

“I always enjoy playing at [that stadium]. It’s an awesome atmosphere. They bring a lot of people into the city, there’s a huge buzz about it. We’re expecting a dry pitch again so we want to go out there and play and we want to play our style of footy.

“We’ve just got to get that balance, right. And it’s a very simple thing to say but if we’re all connected in that moment, I’m sure we’re going to put a good effort on the field.”

O’Connor was the third starting No.10 used by the Wallabies this year after Noah Lolesio and Quade Cooper and he said the depth has been developed throughout the squad this campaign.

“The depth of the squad is only growing – even some of the guys who have been left at home who haven’t come on the Spring Tour,” O’Connor said.

“There’s a lot of guys who have had a taste of Test footy now and who have been around the system, who know our structures and know what it takes to win Test matches and how to compete at that level.

“It is a huge step up from Super not only on the playing field, but on the training field, the demands are so much more. If you’ve been blooded young, and we’ve got 40-50 guys who have been around the squad, it’s only going to put us in better shape leading into this World Cup and leading into the future.”

He’s expecting the experience gained on this tour will help in two years time for the
World Cup.

“Playing in front of 80,000 at Twickenham, even just coming into the stadium, a lot of the guys were just overwhelmed with how unreal it was,” O’Connor said.

As for his own thoughts about continuing through to the World Cup?
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Body’s good. I’m moving well and fit, so yeah.”

Pick the best players

Matt Giteau has urged Rugby Australia to ditch the law that bears his name in order to become an international force.

Giteau, speaking on the BBC’s Scrum V podcast, said he had been encouraged by Rugby Australia’s decision to essentially set aside the Giteau Law this season due to Covid issues and hopes it doesn’t come back.

Giteau said that despite the two losses in Europe the Wallabies were “in a really good spot.”

“I like that they’ve brushed the so-called Giteau Law because they put in guys that weren’t necessarily at that 60 cap mark but could add so much to the group,” Giteau said.

“We brought guys playing in France, just to add depth and it’s a good thing for Australian rugby because we don’t have necessarily that depth without those guysfrom overseas.

Matt Giteau (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

“Whether they’re up to the standard or not, that’s a different story. What it actually does is these young guys who were given an opportunity, it puts a bit of pressure on them and they start to feel like maybe they’re not as solid in their Test selections, it’s not given that they’re going to play for their country.

“So they’ve got to work a bit harder. We’ve got a good selection of players heading out in the World Cup.”

Giteau was brought back to the Wallabies from overseas by Michael Cheika, and the 60 cap limit was set. This season players such as Samu Kerevi, Sean McMahon, Will Skelton and Rory Arnold, who wouldn’t have usually qualified, have received call ups.

Giteau wants that to stay the case.

“You should pick your best players,” he said. “You want to have the best 15 or 23 or 30 for a World Cup, you can have, because the squad wins those things.

“From my personal experience, I think it’s a very good thing to be able to select players from everywhere.”

The argument against total relaxation of the Giteau Law is that it will weaken Australian Super franchises. Giteau believes it could have a different impact, with players not as valuable to overseas clubs if they can be called up by their national team.

“I think younger guys, maybe teams overseas won’t want them if they know that they’re going to go when when they need them the most, say during the Six Nations,” said Giteau.

“When I first got to Toulon I had to sign a contract to say I wasn’t going to play for Australia. And at that time, there was no law.”

Giteau, meanwhile, said he initially had concerns about O’Connor as a No.10, but no longer.

“I would have said two years ago, no,” Giteau said when asked if he thought O’Connor was a good fit at 10. “I knew it was a position that he wanted to be, but I think he’s matured as a person and a player.

“I think it is his right position with this current Wallabies squad and the young guys they have got there, they need a good leader at No. 10 and James O’Connor is that man.”

Rassie riles up the English

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, returned to the water runner role last weekend and could do the same in the weekend’s blockbuster clash against England.

Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber declined to divulge what role Erasmus would play at Twickenham.

Meanwhile, Erasmus received a withering spray from prominent UK writer Stephen Jones of The Times – whose forthright and colourful opinions make him a favourite here at Rugby World (at least for the author if not the readers!).

Jones decribed Erasmus as a “right royal prat” and and “IT numpty” over the public release of the South African’s ref rant video.

But Jones makes one very good point amongst the name calling – it’s now more than four months since the video’s release, 17 days on from the hearing and we’ve heard crickets in terms of a verdict.

“Previously, he (Erasmus) was regarded as one of rugby’s great men,” wrote Jones. “But in July, he became the man who poisoned a Lions series,” Jones wrote in his column.

“Miscreants accused of the worst kinds of foul play can expect to have their disciplinary cases dealt with within three days.”

All Blacks under pressure

After blowing away Australia and seemingly having enough quality players to field two conquering teams, the All Blacks have fallen rapidly into some measure of crisis.

The loss to a spirited Ireland team, two games after losng to the Springboks, has overshadowed their Rugby Championship triumph.

Ian Foster, himself under growing pressure, led a brutal review this week.

“The guts of it was probably obvious, was that we didn’t hold onto the ball very well and got smacked behind the gain line,” said All Blacks’ Sam Cane.

“And after that we went away from what we’re good at, which is getting over the gain line and putting defences on their back-foot.”

He described the emotions within the team: “Everyone’s emotions are a little bit different, there’s disappointment, there’s frustration, a wee bit of anger but it’s all geared around how we got out-played and got it handed to us so we’re disappointed with that.

“There was some individual areas in amongst that and some decision making that got brought up in front of the team – it’s never easy for individuals for that to happen – but if you view it as real moments of growth, and those individuals can get better and us a team in certain areas, then it can be a good springboard for us to put on a performance that we can actually be proud of.”

Cane said the team was focussed on addressing the issues against France.

“The mood and the energy has really lifted since the review … we went from there to training this afternoon and trained really well, so the guys are in good spirits now and excited to have an opportunity to put some wrongs right this weekend.”

“If you look at our defence, we can be proud of the way we defended but we just need to have that same attitude and intent on attack, so I’d hope the response would be a clinical and a physical one.”

“Honestly it’s come a long way from the start of the tour to where we are now, I feel like things are really starting to gel for us and some of the things we’ve been working on are coming right. We’ll take a few good things forward.”

But it’s hard to hide tension and on the same press call Joe Moody bristled when the recent performances by the All Blacks pack were questioned.

Asked whether the forwards were stung following the match, given ‘great expectations’ on the All Blacks forwards, Moody replied: “What specifically are you getting at in regards to the pack.

“It was definitely a tough night at the office and it was a physical game but at the same time, when you’re talking about the pack … we didn’t take any backwards steps or anything like that.

“I don’t think speaking of the pack specifically was where we sort of let the game go.”