James O’Connor’s ‘pretty clear’ Bledisloe Cup message as Wallabies star reveals desperation to face All Blacks
Wallabies fly-half James O'Connor against Argentina, and head coach Joe Schmidt.
James O’Connor has stated he would “fly under the plane” in order to face the All Blacks in the upcoming Bledisloe Cup matches.
The Wallabies fly-half is currently in England preparing for the upcoming Gallagher Prem season with Leicester Tigers.
O’Connor arrived in the UK on Tuesday, just three days after he impressed when coming off the bench in Australia’s Rugby Championship defeat to Argentina.
The Wallabies face the All Blacks on September 27 and again a week later on October 4, with head coach Joe Schmidt naming his wider squad for those games on Thursday.
At the moment, it appears unlikely that the 35-year-old will be picked, but the playmaker has claimed that Schmidt is still speaking to the Tigers about the situation.
‘I want to play’
“I want to, I’ve made it pretty clear that I want to play. Joe’s still talking with Leicester at the moment,” O’Connor told the GBRAUNZ podcast, which was recorded on Monday.
“I’ll bloody do what my dog’s doing and fly under the plane to get back.
“I land Tuesday England time. Me, the missus and the dog are all on the same flight but he stays over for an extra day.
“We’ll pick him up on Wednesday, head up to the new house, get settled in and then I’m more than happy to fly straight back.”
Former All Black and regular contributor on the show, Justin Marshall, then quipped: “Given what you said that you always turn left, would you fly cattle class to come all the way back?”
However, O’Connor is adamant that he would do anything to face the All Blacks, responding: “Mate, I would fly under the plane to come back and play in the Bledisloe.”
After missing the British and Irish Lions series, the playmaker made his return to Test rugby following three years in the international wilderness in their victory over the Springboks.
He has more than proven his worth, inspiring them to a triumph over the world champions in Johannesburg before playing a key role in their come-from-behind success against Argentina in Townsville.
Although O’Connor could not quite repeat the trick in Sydney on Saturday, his absence may well be keenly felt for the All Blacks Tests should he remain in England.
Joe Schmidt wants to develop the younger fly-halves but Tom Lynagh, Tane Edmed and Ben Donaldson have so far been unable to nail down the 10 shirt.
It was Edmed who was given the opportunity to start at the weekend but he struggled as Los Pumas opened up a 25-7 lead before O’Connor almost inspired another comeback victory.
O’Connor ‘whipping’ team-mates into shape
“Number one, they were winning the aerial battle but number two, if you’re giving away that many penalties, we were just allowing them to creep up the field and then, man, [Santiago] Carreras can hit a ball from anywhere – he’s such a clean kicker,” the playmaker said.
“They kept the scoreboard creeping over. I always knew that if we could get the territory battle, we could win it. I felt like we were kicking quite aimlessly at times.
“It was part of our game plan to squeeze them. We were very clear at half-time about kicking on the front foot but we need to hold onto the ball a little bit more and manipulate their defence so we can trap the guys in the backfield.”
He added: “The two main points were penalties and winning that aerial battle but when I go on there’s only one thing to do when you’re behind that much and that’s getting the whip out, and I got the boys moving.
“I probably pushed them a little bit too hard but we had quite a bit to creep back and credit to the guys, they just started playing on top. We were fatigued but you could probably see they were a little more fatigued than us.
“Some things came off and others didn’t. It wasn’t perfect but we got ourselves right in a position to be able to draw the game or possibly win it.”
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