O'Connor wants more traffic

James O’Connor is tired of life on the outside. He wants in.

The Mole has previously speculated [see Australian Report Card ] that O’Connor’s future lies in a position other than winger. It’s not because he’s a bad winger: he brings a huge amount to the position. However, it is that well-rounded set of skills and physical attributes that suggest that he might be better suited somewhere else.

There’s an argument that says that any winger who moves inside will miss the space afforded to him out wide. While there’s some truth to that, it’s not every winger – and in practice it’s very few – who is as well-equipped to deal with life inside as O’Connor. He’s got the passing game, he’s got an excellent kicking game [both from the ground and out of hand] and he has a great step and top-rank speed off the mark. In fact, he’s got just about every attribute you could hope for.

Importantly, he’s also got the desire to play in midfield: “It’s no secret I want to play No12. That’s the position I want to play,” O’Connor said. ”I’m happy to play on the wing, bide my time, but I’ll be putting my hand up now, depending on how Quadey’s going.”

O’Connor is the sort of player that you want to have the ball in hand as much as possible. It’s as simple as that. He has the same sort of ability and presence as El Mago, Juan Martín Hernandez – he can do it all. El Mago had an incredible diverse kicking game that O’Connor will probably never rival, but the hot-tempered larrikin looks to be a faster, more elusive runner.

He’s a fierce, destructive tackler who punches well above his weight. Much ado has been made in the recent past about the rise of giants in the No12 jersey [Jamie Roberts, Ma'a nonu, Superstar Sunny-Bull Wull'yums, Yannick Jauzion, Matthieu 'Jabba' Bastareaud foremost amongst them], but it’s not the only path the position can go down.

The Mole looks on this as a good move by O’Connor on all fronts. He didn’t kick up a stink during the World Cup and insist to be moved inside, even when Grey Man Pat McCabe [dislocated shoulder], Bombproof Rob Horne [fractured cheekbone] and Anthony Faingaa [concussion] were all injured in the group stages. Instead, he waited until the tournament was over, and made his preference known.

In terms of what it can do for the Wallabies, it opens up getting all their best players in the backline together. Drew Mitchell can come back in on the wing, where he was so effective up until his ankle injury, and Two Dads can continue in the No13 jersey. The Twin Danahers midfield will be confined to distant memory!

For more, see ESPN Scrum.com

Grey Man Pat McCabe is in the Wallaby starting line-up to face the Springboks in the quarter-final.

The Mole speculated – well, he assumed – that Dingo Deans would have seen the error of his ways and selected Berrick Barnes in the No12 jersey. El Doble-B came on for the injured Kurtley Beale in the easy romp against the Eagles, and started against Mother Russia, putting in performances that ticked a hell of a lot of boxes – composure, control and a varied kicking and distribution game.

Personally, I think it’s a bit of a shock call. Having Barnes and Cooper in your team essentially gives you two outhalves. Even if one of your key decision-makers is at the bottom of a ruck – and Cooper runs a lot and thus finds himself getting tackled quite a bit – you have another one who can put shape on your possession.

Barnes is probably a better tactical kicker than Cooper, and both are talented and pacy runners who can take the ball out of defence in a counter-attack, or even break the line of a well-prepared early phase defense with a step and a shimmy and then a burst of gas. Beyond that, Barnes and Two Dads form an almost prototypical southern hemisphere second five-eighth/first centre combination. Barnes is the distributor and thinker, AAC the line-breaker and try-scorer.

McCabe’s limitations were shown up against Ireland, and his recent shoulder injury will further limit his physicality. Jean de Villiers is considerably bigger than him, and isn’t going to get knocked down or run over. It’s a strange call from the Dingo.

M*A*S*H/Wallaby HQ

The Wobblies put a hurting on Eddie O’Sullivan’s Eagles in Wellington, running away with an eleven tries to one victory after a competitive first half hour.

Unfortunately, they picked up an absolute rake of injuries in doing so. Grey Man Pat McCabe could well be out of the remainder of the World Cup with a suspected dislocated shoulder, and Anthony Faainga took a horrendous looking knee late in the game when he got his head on the wrong side in an elementary tackle. He was spark out before he hit the ground.

He’s renowned as a good tackler, but in this instance bravery got in the way of very, very basic technique. One of the first things any kid is taught about the tackle is not to get your head in front of the opponent’s knee … use your footwork and whichever shoulder is appropriate to get in there and execute it cleanly and safely. Faainga clearly favoured his right and got his bell rung – and rung hard – for his troubles.

There’re a few rumours from Aussie message boards that luckless centre Rob Horne incurred a facial fracture in the first tackle of the game – it came in midfield and with a huge dunt – and if so, the lad did very well to stay on for so long and contribute to a lot of good first half Australian play.

Still, that’s three Australian centres seriously injured in the space of one game. The good news for Dingo Deans is that Berrick Barnes came on and looked very, very assured. He was used at outhalf and provides a different option to Quade Cooper as a No10 – a little bit more traditional, a little bit more on-the-cuff [as opposed to off-the-cuff]. Cooper switched to fullback, with the red-hot Kurtley Beale coming off to protect a groin strain. The latter had a cracking first half, with a number of outside breaks coming from Aussie counters and from early phase ball. He would be a huge loss for Australia if seriously injured; however, he didn’t look in much discomfort coming off, and it was almost certainly precautionary.

AAC had a belter on the right wing and scored a hat-trick, taking home the Man of the Match award. Well done that man – send a snap of it to Drico! With all those injuries to his midfield brethren, he could well find himself lining up in the No13 jersey outside Berrick Barnes in the No12 in the near future. This is a combination that Deans has tried before [in the 2009 Tri-Nations and the 2010 November NH tour] and has all the raw ingredients to make a complementary partnership with plenty of big-game experience.

In terms of forward play, McCalman had another poor game at openside, and looks ill-equipped to fill that role in any serious capacity. The Mole would liken it [for Irish fans] to Ulster’s repeated selection of Chris Henry in the No7 jersey: it’s just not a good fit.

Wycliff Palu had a decent comeback game, but came off midway through the second-half with a tight hamstring. Rocky Elsom was skinned by J.J. Gagiano ['I'm walkin' here!'] off the side of a 5m scrum for the Americans’ try, but otherwise had a good run-out. Nathan Sharpe had a busy game, and should definitely be in any Wallabies’ match-day squad ahead of Rob Simmons … it’s lunacy leaving him out.

Just as with Zoolander Spies against Namibia, grading a set-piece against a second-string side from a Tier Three country is a waste of time. The Wallabies scrummaged well against the Italians, a good scrummaging outfit by anybody’s standards, and struggled against Ireland. It’s impossible to predict how they will do against their quarter-final opponent.

At the moment though, the more pressing issue for Deans is how to manage his backline casualties, and whom he should call up from outside the squad.