LONG READ Crusaders impact could put veteran O’Connor in Wallabies mix for Lions

I’m clearly not alone in giving James O’Connor’s Wallabies prospects a bit more thought in recent weeks, given all the commentary that has accompanied his recent performances.

Even before the 34-year-old knocked over the winning penalty that allowed the Crusaders to sink the Blues last Friday in almost biblical Christchurch rain, I thought long and hard about including him in a recent piece on Australian players who had surely moved from the fringes of selection to genuine contenders to take on the British & Irish Lions.

But at the time his business case wasn’t nearly as strong as it is now. The impact he has had on the Crusaders late in games can’t really be quantified or measured, even if there is one very key difference to last season: seven wins from nine games.

Of course, O’Connor isn’t the sole reason why the red and blacks have almost doubled their 2024 win tally. But his presence, the experience he brings and the calmness he provides to young team-mates in those late, crucial moments in games have definitely contributed to the Crusaders finding themselves second in the Super Rugby Pacific table.

There is one very clear way to see the impact he had had on the Crusaders. Rewatch the winning penalty goal against the Blues and count how many team-mates mob O’Connor as the Gilbert sails through the posts.

Looking back at a couple of different images of the moment, I could count 11 team-mates surrounding the veteran fly-half in one frame, and one of them had the big bench coat on.

Knowing the kick was on target, O’Connor threw his kicking tee into the air in triumph well before the flags went up. If the way a team ‘gets around’ a player in a moment of celebration is a sign of that player’s standing, O’Connor is very evidently loved by the Crusaders squad. They had run from everywhere.

When news first broke last October that the Crusaders were poised to sign the former Australian wunderkind, reactions in New Zealand were muted at best. Commentators and former Crusaders and All Blacks lined up to voice their concerns and objections, and even those expressing an understanding of why O’Connor was seen as an option didn’t really hide their displeasure.

Good and bad, he certainly has experiences to share. But also, he realises that when your career is pushing toward its 20th year, you also don’t look a gift contract in the mouth.

A penny for all their thoughts as the penalty kick landed on Friday night.

From the moment he first signed with the Crusaders to first pulling on their jersey in a trial game, to when his impact started becoming clear, to straight after the win over the Blues, O’Connor’s reaction has been the same.

He’s honoured to play for such for a strong rugby organisation. He hopes he can help the younger playmakers by sharing his experiences. Good and bad, he certainly has experiences to share. But also, he realises that when your career is pushing toward its 20th year, you also don’t look a gift contract in the mouth.

But the Crusaders clearly had a plan. With a couple of young No.10s, Taha Kemara and Rivez Reihana, on their books and Richie Mo’unga unlikely to return home from Japan, the Christchurch-based outfit knew O’Connor could bring the one thing that was definitely lacking from their game last year.

“We just think he adds a little bit there for a year in terms of bringing all that experience and wisdom,” Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge said at the time.

On the field, that experience and wisdom has shone. Where he positions himself, covering the backfield, his guidance to scrum-half Kyle Preston late in games about where to steer the next few carries, when he wants the ball to attack, and certainly his kicking from both hand and tee.

And that’s important to acknowledge, because this kind of impact doesn’t come out in the raw stats.

O’Connor has come off the bench in eight of his nine games for the Crusaders, and started the Round 7 loss to Moana Pasifika. He’s averaged around 23 minutes in his appearances off the bench, and though he had a couple of half-hour stints earlier in the season, in recent weeks these have come back to 20 and even 15 minutes on the weekend against the Blues. Clearly, the confidence around Kemara is growing.

He’s been in tight Test matches before, big Super Rugby games, and when you need your exit, you step up to your experience and he just pulls the trigger and peels off a good 50 metres.

When he has come on in the final quarter, O’Connor isn’t carrying a lot – only roughly twice per game – though he does beat a defender with every second carry. He’s not offloading much at all and has just the one try assist, and one try, to his name.

What he has done is kick 16 conversions from 20 attempts, and all four penalty attempts, including the important kick in the 72^nd minute on Friday to bring the score back to 22-22, and of course, the 82^nd-minute match-winner. That places O’Connor among just five regular kickers this season going at better than 80%, and when the competition average has dropped from just over 75% last season to below 71% this year.

When you look back at his 15 minutes on the field against the Blues, it’s so illustrative of what he has done so well this season.

In the 67^th minute, he was in behind the ruck providing direction to set up for an exit after a lineout in the Crusaders’ half. After Beauden Barrett kicked a penalty to put the Blues out by three, O’Connor’s restart to the Blues’ 22m was perfectly weighted to set up a contest. He then kicked his first penalty of the night soon after.

Over the next few minutes with the Blues trying to regain field position, he tracked back and across field perfectly to ensure there was no real open space for Barrett or the Blues to kick into. Then, after a scrum back near their own 22m, O’Connor pulled out a superb clearing kick that found touch well back in the Blues’ half.

“You just can’t beat that sort of experience, James O’Connor,” former All Black and Crusaders great Justin Marshall gushed in commentary for Sky Sports.

“He’s been in tight Test matches before, big Super Rugby games, and when you need your exit, you step up to your experience and he just pulls the trigger and peels off a good 50 metres.”

O’Connor again helped steer the Crusaders back into the Blues half in the final minute, and as their forwards celebrated the Blues knock-on in centre-field that would allow them the chance to scrum for a penalty, O’Connor and skipper Will Jordan crossed paths and had a simple conversation in the background.

Of course he was taking the kick.

With question marks over incumbent Noah Lolesio holding his place, and particularly with no Australian fly-half making stand-out cases this year, O’Connor is playing as well as any and better than a couple of them.

As replays of the players’ reactions to the winning kick began to roll, the reaction up in the coaches’ box was equally telling. The most satisfied look might have come from Rob Penney, who this time last year was in a far different frame of mind.

The Crusaders are certainly back in 2025, and O’Connor has certainly had a big impact in that.

So much so that even at 34, and not having pulled on an Australian jersey since just before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, O’Connor surely needs to be included in discussions around the Wallabies No.10 to face the Lions.

With question marks over incumbent Noah Lolesio holding his place now his future plans lie overseas, and particularly with no Australian fly-half making stand-out cases in Super Rugby Pacific this year, O’Connor is playing as well as any and better than a couple of them.

My 8/9 Combo podcast co-host Harry Jones has made reference over the last month or so to professional teams banking on losing 2-2.5 players on average to injury every game. Apply that forward to one of the biggest Test series in international rugby, it’s not hard to see Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt needing many more than the 35 or however many players he names for the series.

Even if O’Connor is not part of the initial squad, if injury befalls a playmaker early in the series, can Schmidt really afford to back an untested youngster in a Lions series decider, no matter how promising they might be?

If he’s one of the best options to steer the Wallabies around, then he just has to come into the frame. His bench impact in 2025 is undeniable, and his 80% goal-kicking simply cannot be overlooked.

The Sydney Morning Herald made reference this week to a loophole in Wallabies overseas eligibility opening for O’Connor, in that Rugby Australia may not count him as an overseas player, given he’s playing Super Rugby.

And sure, that’s one way to do it, but it’s not really needed. O’Connor is just as eligible for Wallabies selection as Will Skelton and Samu Kerevi are and is arguably having a bigger impact on his team.

If he’s one of the best options to steer the Wallabies around, then he just has to come into the frame. His bench impact in 2025 is undeniable, and his 80% goal-kicking simply cannot be overlooked.

But will Schmidt bring him into the conversation? And is he prepared to open what would definitely be a massive can of worms on the selection table?

If O’Connor keeps steering the Crusaders back to success, it’s going to be awfully hard not to.