{"id":133098,"date":"2021-09-23T07:06:02","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T07:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=133098"},"modified":"2021-09-23T10:01:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T10:01:07","slug":"fit-again-wallabies-star-returns-in-new-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=133098","title":{"rendered":"Fit again Wallabies star returns in new role"},"content":{"rendered":"

James O'Connor will make his long awaited Wallabies return against Argentina on Saturday but Sean McMahon will be straining on the leash for another week.<\/p>\n

Veteran O'Connor hasn't played for Australia this year after picking up a groin injury in Super Rugby trans-Tasman.<\/p>\n

In his absence Quade Cooper has re-emerged as the chief Wallabies playmaker and coach Dave Rennie has opted to reintroduce O'Connor from the bench against Los Pumas for the round five Rugby Championship clash in Townsville.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to\u00a0watch\u00a0every match of<\/em><\/strong> The Rugby Championship<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, continuing\u00a0on Saturday with\u00a0All Blacks\u00a0vs Springboks and Wallabies vs Pumas –\u00a0live, extended and ad free.\u00a0Start your seven day free trial\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

McMahon, who hasn't played for the Wallabies since 2017, does not even make the reserves despite impressing at training after emerging from hotel quarantine.<\/p>\n

Instead Rebels bruiser Rob Leota will make his first Test start at blindside flanker in place of Lachie Swinton.<\/p>\n

Swinton was yellow carded in Australia's 30-17 win over South Africa last weekend.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies prankster accused of 'crime against Queen'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Son of Wallabies great picked in England squad<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Springboks ring changes for historic All Blacks Test<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Swinton<\/p>\n

"It's a really proud moment for Rob and his family to earn his first start in Wallaby gold and we're all rapt for him," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

"He's really impressed us with his work ethic on and off the field and worked hard for this opportunity.<\/p>\n

"It's been fantastic to connect with the Townsville community this week ahead of the first ever Test here and we're determined to build on the past couple of performances on Saturday night."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Reece Hodge will start at fullback after Tom Banks broke his arm last weekend.<\/p>\n

"It's awesome to be able to get another starting berth," Hodge said.<\/p>\n

"They've kind of been few and far between in the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

"A massive opportunity for myself and the squad this week to put together three back-to-back wins, we haven't done that in quite a while."<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1):<\/strong> Reece Hodge, Andrew Kellaway, Len Ikitau, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, Quade Cooper, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Michael Hooper (c), Rob Leota, Matt Philip, Azack Rodda, Taniela Tupou, Folau Fainga'a, James Slipper<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Feleti Kaitu'u, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain, Pete Samu, Tate McDermott, James O'Connor, Jordan Petaia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James O'Connor will make his long awaited Wallabies return against Argentina on Saturday but Sean McMahon will be straining on the leash for another week. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133100,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133098\/revisions\/133100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}