James O’Connor hasn’t played a Test in almost three years, but Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has kept the door ajar for the Super Rugby veteran to make a fairytale return to the national set up, 12 years after wearing the No.10 jersey against the Lions.

Despite not picking O’Connor last year and the 34-year-old moving to the Crusaders this year, Schmidt said the versatile back had something few others possessed in Australian rugby: big-match experience.

Most thought O’Connor’s international days were behind him when he fell out of favour under Dave Rennie, before Eddie Jones looked past him too. However, Jones did invite him for the Wallabies’ quick pre-World Cup camp in Darwin.

It well and truly looked like the curtain had dropped on O’Connor’s hopes of an international return after he missed the majority of the 2024 Super Rugby season because of injury.

It led to Les Kiss and the Reds offering O’Connor a much-reduced contract extension, as the club turned its attention to its youth: Tom Lynagh and Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.

Keen to prove that he still had one last dance left in him, O’Connor jumped at the chance to join the famed Crusaders – and the playmaker has made every post a winner since.

Indeed, last month he kicked the Crusaders to an important after-the-siren win over the Blues, as he once again showed his capacity to deliver under pressure.

James O’Connor is mobbed by his Crusaders teammates after landing a match-winning penalty against the Blues. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

The match-winning cameo off the bench came after a series of strong performances off the bench, where he provided the cool head to lead the Crusaders to a stunning resurgence in 2025 after the kings of Super Rugby fell off a cliff in Rob Penney’s return to the franchise.

The turnaround led to several pundits, including Morgan Turinui, saying that O’Connor had re-emerged on the national radar.

On Tuesday, Schmidt revealed he had not only spoken to O’Connor, but that the Wallaby, who made his Test debut against Italy in 2008 but hasn’t played since a frustrating afternoon in Argentina in mid-2022, was in the selection frame.

“I talked to James. We had a really good chat,” Schmidt told reporters in Melbourne.

“With James, he’s still playing in our local comp. He’s not based currently in Australia, but I don’t think that precludes him.

“I don’t think we’ve precluded anyone. We want to be as strong as we can be for a pinnacle event.

“I know there’ll be lots of commentary around whether selections are right, but we will put a lot of effort into trying to get them right.”

James O’Connor in action against the Lions in 2013. (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)

Asked whether O’Connor’s decision to move to New Zealand was different to others who had signed deals overseas outside of Super Rugby, Schmidt said it was not just the fact it was a “little bit closer to home” but added that his experience could prove vital for the showpiece event.

“I think he took the Crusaders opportunity to challenge himself,” Schmidt said.

“Because the Reds, you’ve got Tom Lynagh playing there, you’ve got Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, and they’re a couple of guys really on the upswing. Both very good players coming through.

“And so James, he would bring experience back into the group, a little bit of versatility in that he’s played 12 in his career as well.

“Both Tom, even Noah [Lolesio] last year, he’s still young in terms of international experience. So with all those players, it’s nice to have an experienced head.

“Having come from the All Blacks in recent times, we had guys like Beauden Barrett, 100 Test All Black, Damian McKenzie, so experienced, Richie Mo’unga. Between those three, they’ve got 200 Test of All Blacks experience.

“So comparatively, it’s a very inexperienced group – and James would bring that experience.

“It’s part of the conundrum for us and we’ll be working hard trying to get the best balance.”

Unsurprisingly, O’Connor – a veteran of 64 Tests and two World Cup campaigns, where he led the Wallabies to a semi-final in New Zealand after a clutch penalty to sink the Springboks in Wellington – was earlier backed by Lynagh to be in the mix for a return.

“Of course. He’s still playing at a high level … the Crusaders are going really well,” said 22-year-old Lynagh, the son of Wallabies great Michael, who moved to Queensland as a teenager from England so he could be mentored by O’Connor.

“I don’t see why not – everyone’s hand’s up for selection and Rabs (O’Connor) is going well.”

With the ACT Brumbies in third and Queensland fourth on the Super ladder, Schmidt said players involved could use the finals to push for selection. The Crusaders sit alongside the Chiefs at the top of the standings, with O’Connor set to play more of a role in the lead up to the finals after Taha Kemara’s season-ending knee injury.

“It’s got to be taken into consideration, doesn’t it? Once you get to those big play-off games, that’s the highest level they play outside of Test football, said Schmidt.

“So you want to add a little bit of extra weight onto those performances.”

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge with Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt after a media opportunity at Mission Whitten Oval on May 06, 2025 in Melbourne. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

While Schmidt’s former right-hand man Andy Farrell will name his British and Irish Lions squad on Thursday night, the New Zealander won’t name his squad for more than a month.

It means the selection battle will intensify as the Super Rugby Pacific season edges towards the finals.

Schmidt was speaking alongside Western Bulldogs AFL coach Luke Beveridge in Melbourne – the hot city of the second Lions Test on August 26.

The second-year Wallabies coach, who last week revealed he had signed a nine-month extension to ensure a transition with Les Kiss was possible following next year’s Super Rugby season, said he had spoken to the long-serving Dogs coach about short and long-term planning and was keen to leave a positive legacy in Australian rugby.

“It’s funny. It’s exactly one of the things that Luke and I talked about, how do we deliver in the short-term and plan in the long-term,” he said.

“I think that’s always one of the challenges, because we’ve got to get the short-term right. That’s even just the short-term day-to-day training, to get the short-term Test focus right.

“For us, it’s quite easy to do that, to be short-term focused when you’ve got the Lions coming, because that’s such a pinnacle event for us.

“But we are talking in terms of World Cups and that transition to Les coming in and taking over and trying to make sure that we are in a really good place when he does come to take over, because I think the better place we can be in, in a year’s time or 18 months’ time, I think the better place we are to continue to grow into the World Cup. It’s double-edged a little bit.

“You’ve got to get the short-term right with a long-term focus.

“There’s a great book, Turning the Ship Around, we were talking about books earlier on, where a lot of how you perceive your worth is your legacy rather than your involvement at the time in the fray.

“I’m just so keen that we have a legacy that builds us into the World Cup that’s successful.”