‘I thought Joe was taking the p**s’ – James O’Connor ‘rattled’ by shock Wallabies call ahead of ‘bigger than World Cup’ Lions Series
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt and James O'Connor.
James O’Connor was left stunned by his inclusion in the Wallabies squad for the British and Irish Lions Series after missing a call from Joe Schmidt.
Following the injury to Noah Lolesio, there was always a chance that he would be the man Schmidt turned to, but the veteran playmaker thought that the opportunity had passed him by.
He arrived at the Suncorp Stadium on Friday feeling disappointed but brushed that to one side to do a coaching session, only for his sorrow to turn into utter delight after a chat with the Wallabies boss.
“Whirlwind of emotions”
O’Connor had arrived at the ground following a visit to the Visa offices as he prepared for his move to Leicester Tigers and had missed a phone call from Schmidt, who informed him that he had, in fact, earned a recall to the squad.
“I found out like an hour, hour and a half ago. A real whirlwind of emotions. I’m probably going to crash in an hour, I reckon,” O’Connor told reporters, fully kitted out in Wallabies gear for the team photo.
“I’m still a bit rattled, as you can tell.
“I’m ecstatic, I’ve been on this journey for a long time, and she [his wife] knows how much it means to me. Just to be part of it in any way, shape or form. It’s incredible.”
He added: “I arrived here thinking, ‘Hey, I’ve got to move on’, I’ve made commitments to coach, so I turned up to do some coaching and now the legs are a bit sore already and we got a session, so I might need to take it a bit easy.”
How he found out
Prior to O’Connor fronting the media, Schmidt revealed the story behind how he informed the fly-half that he had been called up, but the 2025 Super Rugby winner didn’t believe him.
“Yeah, I thought he was taking the piss,” O’Connor confirmed.
“Well, everyone was already at the hotel, and everyone knew.
“The boys always say if you get a call, no news is not good news. He said that he had given me a call and I hadn’t seen it because I was in the visa office, and he shook my hand and told me, and I double-checked, thinking, ‘he is actually serious’.”
The 35-year-old barely had time to process the news that what he had been working so hard to achieve had finally come to fruition before he was kitted up and fronted the media.
“Honestly, it hasn’t snuck in yet,” he said. “Genuinely. It’s very surreal.
“I feel like I’ve been building towards this even in my role at Super Rugby and sort of tailoring it for a possible way of playing in the Lions Series.
“Then, missing out on the first squad and obviously Noah goes down, no one wants to see that, but it opened the door for me. Even then, I didn’t think I made it, to be here right now and be given the opportunity to be with this group of men, I’m bloody excited.”
Targeting the number 10 jersey
After missing out on the first squad of the year, he has now been parachuted in to cover for the injury to Lolesio and while he is eager to add value in any way possible, he has his eye on the starting fly-half role.
“Of course I want the spot,” he said.
“We will see what happens, but I think the other guys have the first bite at the cherry; they were in the first squad. But anything that I can do to help, and that’s what I’ve said to Joe in the past.
“Any little bit of knowledge that I can share. I know how big of an occasion it is; it’s bigger than the World Cup. Not that I took it for granted the first time around, but I was just not aware of it.
“It comes around every 12 years, and you usually only get one shot at it, so you want your aim to be true.”
