Old head O'Connor gets Schmidt backing following unlikely return
Injuries to Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson have opened the door for O'Connor, 35, to make his first international appearance since 2022 in the cauldron of Ellis Park.
There are few tougher places in world rugby to play.
"The good thing with James is he came in right at the start of the Lions series," Schmidt said. "So he's had three weeks with us.
"He's had a period to probably just assimilate himself into the systems that we run and to start gaining confidence that he could run the game, and the confidence of the players that he was a guy to listen to. He's done that really well, and that gives us confidence."
O'Connor's return to the Wallabies set-up comes after a good season with the Canterbury Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific.
"I tracked him throughout Super Rugby while he was playing for the Crusaders, and I've seen him play for a number of years," Schmidt said.
"He hasn't played for the Wallabies in three years, so he's pretty excited by that opportunity."
There was another option open to the coaching team in 25-year-old Tane Edmed, who has one international cap, but the world champion Springboks on the Highveld are not the opposition to test out young talent on.
"Tane's only just joined us," Schmidt said. "We've got a fair bit of confidence in Tane as well, he was on tour with us last year and made his Test debut, but he had a very disrupted Super Rugby season.
"He didn't play a massive amount of minutes and didn't play consistently for the Waratahs, so we're just trying to balance all those things at the moment."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
One week to go - your essential World Cup briefing
2025 Women's Rugby World CupVenue: England Date: 22 August - 27 September Coverage: Every match involving England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland live on BBC One or BBC Two, while every game will be live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra England are making their final preparations for the Women's Rugby World Cup, acclimatising to the pressure of being red-hot favourites on home Red Roses open the tournament in a week's time with a match against the United States on Friday, 22 August in hosts have lost only once in their past 58 matches - a surprise defeat by New Zealand in the final of the last edition of the tournament in have won six successive Six Nations Grand Slams, avenged that defeat by the Black Ferns in each of the teams' past three meetings and are well clear at the top of the world coach John Mitchell is conscious that the pressure of expectation will be one of their most formidable challenges to overcome if they are to lift the trophy on 27 September at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium."With our mental-skills support, we are helping the girls individually. Or, for the girls in previous World Cups, unpack and bring closure to those things," said Mitchell."That experience of 2022 has now made us ready for now."England face Samoa and Australia in their other Pool A the tournament were to progress in line with the current world rankings, the Red Roses would face Scotland in the quarter-finals and France in the semi-finals, before a final against either second-ranked Canada or holders New Zealand. Ireland are fifth in the world rankings, up from 10th two years ago. They failed to even qualify for the 2022 rise has included a memorable 29-27 upset of New Zealand in September 2024. They were also within a score of France until the closing stages of the teams' Six Nations meeting in March.A big factor in their progress in the tournament may be the fitness of Aoife Wafer. The 22-year-old star back row was named the player of this year's women's Six Nations, but is still recovering from knee ligament damage sustained in April."We feel we've got a really strong plan in place to get her back on the pitch," said coach Scott Bemand of Wafer in July."People want to see her play. We want to see her play. We think we're tracking towards that."With influential back-five operators Dorothy Wall and Erin King already out, Bemand duly named Wafer in his squad, hoping she can make a swift and strong return to schedule may play in Wafer's favour. Ireland will take on Japan and Spain before concluding their Pool C fixtures against New Zealand. Another victory over the Black Ferns would improve Ireland's chances of progressing in the knockout stage and also potentially put New Zealand into England's side of the warmed up for the tournament with a gutsy 47-26 defeat by Canada and a 27-21 comeback win over have lost five of their seven matches this year and have been hindered by off-pitch disruption in the build-up to the Bryan Easson will leave his post after the World Cup, while, according to the players, more than half the squad fear they will also be looking for new employment when it is finished as they are on short-term contracts."My ethos as a captain is to make my players feel like superwomen - it's to make them feel valued and like they belong," said captain Rachel Malcolm in July."And the processes which have gone on behind the scenes have definitely done almost the opposite of those three things."Adding to Scotland's worries is an ankle injury to experienced hooker Lana Skeldon, who is in the squad despite being carried off in the defeat by face Wales on the opening weekend of the tournament in a match that could decide which of the two progresses to the knockout stage. Scotland edged the teams' Six Nations meeting in March, prevailing 24-21 in a soggy match was coach Sean Lynn's first in charge of Wales, having arrived on the back of winning three successive English domestic titles with has overseen only one win so far - 21-12 over Australia in Brisbane. However, the Wallaroos won the second Test in the series 36-5 this month to temper expectations. Of more damage to Wales' hopes than that scoreline may be an ankle injury suffered by co-captain Alex number eight has been named in Wales' squad, but is a doubt for that important opener against Scotland."We have to leave Australia in Australia and then it is about the focal point of the World Cup," said Lynn after the second Test have also gone through their own contracts dispute, with players claiming they were blackmailed into signing deals by the Welsh Rugby Union's (WRU) hard-ball negotiating tactics and threats to cancel matches last WRU has since apologised and said it should have done wing Jasmine Joyce-Butchers, who made her debut in 2017, says the current environment is one of the best she has experienced with Wales."The girls are brilliant - Lynny [Sean Lynn] and the coaching staff have been outstanding," she said."It's definitely a place now where I can be my true self and express who I am and I don't get judged for that."We've just got to remember that we are in such a better place than we were last year."As an appetiser for the tournament, New Zealand's 27-27 draw with Canada, external in Christchurch in May was hard to beat.A hammer-and-tongs contest, with the two sides never separated by more than seven points, ended with a 22-phase, 83rd-minute Black Ferns try levelling the score and a conversion to snatch victory flying New Zealand have a habit of peaking for the World Cup - winning six of the eight they have competed losing six out of 10 games during a difficult 12 months from mid-October 2023, head coach Allan Bunting believes his team are rising to the occasion once more."We're a different team now," Bunting said."I don't think Canada and England have experienced the team that we are now. So it's going to be which team steps up when they need to." Canada leapfrogged New Zealand into second spot in the world rankings last autumn and were sent on their way to England by a record 11,453 fans - the biggest crowd for a women's rugby match in the country - who watched a 42-10 win over the United States this squad contains of a host of players who have honed their game in Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) , such as Exeter centre Alex Tessier and Saracens back row Sophie de Goede, along with seven exciting converts from the sevens team that won Olympic silver in Paris last fans are turning out their pockets as well as turning out in Canada launched a fundraising drive entitled Mission: Win Rugby World Cup in March 2025. Its goal is to add one million Canadian dollars (£540,000) to boost a campaign which has "only a fraction of the budget of our top competition". They are 88% of the way to their complete the world's top four and have been closest to breaking England's winning streak, coming within a point of the Red Roses in this year's Women's Six Nations Les Bleues' confidence took a knock as England travelled to Mont-de-Marsan for both teams' final warm-up game and came away with a commanding 40-6 victory."I know my group - they'll be stung by what happened tonight and will want to show a different face," said co-head coach Gaelle World Cup marks the final campaign of Jo Yapp's time in charge of Australia. The former Worcester scrum-half appeared for England at three World Cups as a player, captaining her country at the 2006 Wallaroos had hopes to include sevens superstars Charlotte Caslick and Maddison Levi in their squad, but Caslick has been forced out with injury while Levi opted to focus on the shorter-format teams are competing in the tournament, up from 12 in will make their first appearance, while Fiji return for a second shot after debuting in New than 300,000 tickets have been sold across eight venues, stretching from Sandy Park in Exeter to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, ensuring it will be the best-attended Women's Rugby World Cup.
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Bristol Bears seal deal for ‘world-class' Louis Rees-Zammit after return to rugby
Bristol Bears have sealed a deal to sign Louis Rees-Zammit after the Welsh wing's return to rugby from the NFL. Rees-Zammit announced last month that he would be ending his attempt to make it in America, exiting his contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars having failed to appear in a regular season game. The 24-year-old is understood to have attracted significant interest despite many sides in Europe having already set their squads for next season, but Bristol have won the race to secure his signature in a move that makes sense for both player and club. The proximity to his native Cardiff should make a possible return to the Wales set-up more straightforward for Rees-Zammit, who should thrive in the expansive gameplan favoured by Bristol coach Pat Lam. The Bears have lost wings Max Malins, Siva Naulago and Deago Bailey this summer and have slimmed down their squad significantly over the last couple of years. 'Bristol Bears was the obvious choice for me,' Rees-Zammit said after confirming a comeback to Prem Rugby. 'The style of rugby the team play – all about entertaining the fans and growing the game – perfectly aligns to how I want to play and how I express myself on and off the field. 'I want to get fans out of their seats, create exciting moments and help people fall in the love with the game.' Rees-Zammit is thought to have been a key target for the proposed breakaway R360 league due to launch next year, for which more than 100 players are understood to have signed pre-contract agreements, once his return to rugby had been announced. The length of his Bristol deal has not been disclosed. The flying wing, who can also play at full-back and last represented Gloucester, scored 14 tries in 32 Wales caps and toured with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa before pursuing his NFL dream at the start of 2024. New Wales head coach Steve Tandy suggested after being unveiled last week that he would be open to the prospect of an immediate return to the international fold for a player still young in his career. 'You wouldn't rule anything out,' Tandy said, with the first game of his tenure against Argentina on 9 November. 'Zammo [Rees-Zammit] brings a big effect and excitement by coming back. 'It's great for the game. He's gone away to experience something new, which is class, and I'm sure he will be in outstanding physical condition.' |'The more players we have available to represent our country, the better. That's exciting and makes our jobs easier. 'It will also make our calls on selection a lot more challenging as we've already got some very good back-three players. Adding Zammo into that makes it even more exciting for not only us, but the fans as well.'
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
A-League club confirm signing of defender after he 'faced challenges and setbacks' off the field
Former Socceroos defender Ruon Tongyik has been thrown an A-League lifeline by the Western Sydney Wanderers just months after he was acquitted of rape. Tongyik, 27, has signed a one-year deal ahead of the 2025/26 season kicking-off in October. 'I'd like to sincerely thank head coach Alen Stajcic and the Western Sydney Wanderers for this opportunity,' Tongyik said in a club statement. 'It means more than I can say to me and my family. Being able to do what I love again, playing football, is something I truly appreciate. 'After facing challenges and setbacks (in my life), this opportunity to return to the game means a lot (to me). 'It's not just about playing matches but being part of a team, working hard every day and pushing myself to be better. 'I'm excited to contribute on and off the field and help the Wanderers achieve their goals.' Football journeyman Tongyik, who enjoyed previous spells with A-League clubs Melbourne City, Brisbane Roar and Central Coast, had been on Western Sydney's books before the Wanderers and Football Australia slapped a no-fault interim suspension on him in October 2023. The ban prevented him from all football and club-related activities. Stajcic said he was looking forward to again working closely with Tongyik. 'It's been a long road for Ruon and we are all hoping the Wanderers can re-establish him as one of the most prominent players in the A-League,' the Wanderers coach said. In March, 12 jurors took less than two hours to return not-guilty verdicts for Tongyik following a two-week trial. Tongyik's friend Mardochee Manirakiza was also acquitted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault following the alleged incident in November of 2018 at his home in Adelaide. At the time, the woman reported the alleged rape to a friend, but only approached police in 2021 when her airing of the claim on Twitter led to Tongyik's dumping from Australia's men's Olympic football team. Tongyik played two Socceroos matches before the rape allegation surfaced, with his international career then put on hold.
