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'It's my best position' - the jersey James O'Connor finally wants to call his own
By AAP
Feeling he has plenty more to offer, James O'Connor doesn't want to hand over the Wallabies No.10 jersey with the Bledisloe Cup riding on Saturday's result in Sydney.
After a draw and a loss in New Zealand, the Wallabies must win game three to take the series to a deciding Test in Brisbane next month.
O'Connor could move to inside centre for the ANZ Stadium match against the All Blacks to cover the injury loss of Matt Toomua, giving exciting young playmaker Noah Lolesio his Test debut.
But having finally regained the Wallabies five-eighth role, which he last held in 2013, O'Connor wants to stay there.
"I've spent a lot of time at 12 but at the moment I'm enjoying playing 10," O'Connor said on Monday. "It's been a natural progression as I've matured, using my mind more and less my body and I guess playing for the team more and less as an individual."
He said that when he last played at No.10, against the British and Irish Lions, he didn't have the understanding he does now of how to control a game.
O'Connor played at outside centre in last year's disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign and said he felt "frustrated".
"I couldn't give my all and I felt like I wasn't involved as much as I would have liked, so I went back to the drawing board with one of my coaches about how I could take my game forward and it was about stepping up at 10," he said.
"I'm comfortable there now and I feel like I can bring my own element and it's my best position."
The Wallabies missed more than 40 tackles in the Eden Park loss to the All Blacks, which O'Connor felt was unacceptable while their poor ball control piled on the pressure.
"You're never going to win a Test match when you miss that many tackles," he said. "We created a lot of opportunities in attack but we threw the ball away a lot.
"We know what the standards are and they dropped from the first week but we know what we're capable of."
Halfback Nic White admitted the Wallabies' confidence had been dented by the 20-point defeat, which came after a promising 16-16 draw in Wellington.
But he felt it was retrievable.
"In two games, three of the four halves we did really well, " White said.
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I've not watched any of the Top 14, but am I right that he was very very good for the first couple of weeks, and then has been pretty ineffective since?
Go to commentsVery good point. I think the CO2 cost of international sport is a big taboo today (and it doesn't look like it'll change anytime soon unfortunately for all humans).
Regarding your second point, I fully agree as well. We have seen this very one-eyed backlash of the French policy on the July tour, most people refuse to see that the best SA players are suffering from the exact same problem : accumulated fatigue from playing too much without significant breaks. The Boks and the Argentinians played the world cup, the URC/Top14/Premiership, the July series, the Championship, etc, etc, with almost no compulsary resting period. This has to change, for the sake of the players, and in fine for the sake of the sport !
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