O'Connor's crazy comeback confirmed as young 10 pulls up lame

Seventeen years on from his Wallabies debut, James O'Connor is back in the hot seat.

The 35-year-old has been picked to start at No.10 for Australia against South Africa on Sunday (1.10am kickoff AEST) after Tom Lynagh joined Noah Lolesio in the casualty ward.

O'Connor has not played a Test since 2022 and has now been tasked with arguably the toughest job in the game - steering the Wallabies around against the two-time defending world champions at their Ellis Park fortress.

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The Queenslander's inclusion is the only change to Joe Schmidt's starting XV from the one that rolled the British and Irish Lions in Sydney earlier this month.

Outstanding flanker Rob Valetini remains sidelined with a calf injury while Ben Donaldson - who replaced the concussed Lynagh at Accor Stadium - is missing from the 23 due to a training injury picked up on Thursday.

O'Connor is a safe pair of hands after helping the Crusaders to another Super Rugby title this year and Schmidt confirmed he was in locked into the starting team before Donaldson pulled up lame in Johannesburg.

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"In the second last play of the training, Donno kicked the ball and pulled up short, so we don't know what the extent of the injury is," Schmidt told reporters.

"We've only been back from training for about an hour. He will get a scan so we'll have a definitive picture because we need to know for next week (in Cape Town) as well whether we need more cover."

Schmidt has named six forwards and two backs on his bench.

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The New Zealander said Nic White and Andrew Kellaway were emergency options to cover No.10 if O'Connor was injured but signalled one cap playmaker Tane Edmed may come onto the bench before kickoff.

"That's something that we're going to look at at the captain's run (on Friday) and just see what best fits for us because it's all happened just in a very short space of time."

Schmidt said O'Connor and Donaldson were slated to play about half the game each before the latter's injury.

"We had James there (starting), because if he came off the bench, he doesn't get that many reps at training. So we just thought it was better for James to get that repetition and to get his confidence after having spent three weeks with us, because Ben had had the last 50 minutes of the Lions third Test and had spent a lot more time with us," he said.

"So sometimes it's just about getting the balance. The way we saw it was probably playing half a game each and we just felt that with Donno's experience, greater experience with us, and his experience in finishing the game, we just felt it was probably a better way to balance it.

The Springboks are the Rugby Championship title holders while Australia finished last in 2024.

Rassie Erasmus named his Springboks side on Monday but casually told reporters he might change tack and add another forward to his bench should Schmidt opt for a six-two split.

Schmidt and Erasmus have experience working together in Ireland when the former was national coach and the latter was with Munster.

"I'm not one to suck up other coaches because it doesn't help your team perform better on match day, but Joe is a great coach," Erasmus said.

"We sat in many meetings together. He is a very particular guy, very detail-driven. He certainly knows what he wants. Players are on edge to satisfy his demands. That is what we will get from the Wallabies this weekend."

Schmidt also has great respect for Erasmus and his penchant for innovation but questioned aspects of his gamesmanship.

"I think there's some where it's maybe stretching things," he said.

"Having a guy offside at the kickoff, I think that's been dealt with by World Rugby as an intentional breach of the rules, which then comes down to a sanction other than a scrum. He's a great man for testing the boundaries, though, isn't he?

"If you can test the boundaries and get an advantage, a tactical advantage, strategic advantage, with the athletes he has at his disposal, why not?

"For us, we're a little bit earlier in our time as a coaching group with this group, so we're probably still trying to get the fundamentals right and not stretch things to the boundary too much. Just try to be really good at what we can, train it during the week and then try to deliver."

SPRINGBOKS (15-1): Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Manie Libbok, Grant Williams, Siya Kolisi (c), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche

Reserves: Bongi Mbonambi, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Franco Mostert, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Canan Moodie, Damian Willemse

WALLABIES (15-1): Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Dylan Pietsch, James O'Connor, Nic White, Harry Wilson (c), Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Billy Pollard, James Slipper

Reserves: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell, Zane Nonggorr, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Tate McDermott, Andrew Kellaway