James O’Connor will play at five-eighth in his debut for the Queensland Reds against the Western Force on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.
O’Connor and fellow big-name recruit Adam Thomson missed the heavy opening round defeat to the Brumbies but coach Richard Graham has confirmed both will start in Queensland’s first home game of the Super Rugby season.
The inclusion of O’Connor means a shift for vice-captain Karmichael Hunt to fullback, the position in which he trained most of the pre-season in.
But Graham said O’Connor and Hunt would “split” the role on some first phase and attacking situations.
“(James) has spent the last two weeks training fully with the team and looks settled,” Graham said.
“He is motivated to help the team around the field and allow the side to find their attacking framework.”
In his first Super Rugby appearance since 2012, Thomson will start at blindside flanker, pushing Curtis Browning to the bench.
“Adam has only been with the group now two weeks but has fitted in superbly,” Graham said.
Graham has made two other changes to the squad that was humiliated 47-3 by the Brumbies last week, with utility Sam Johnson coming in for Duncan Paia’aua (concussion).
Former Australian schoolboys and under-20s representative Tom Murday is in line to make his Super Rugby debut, replacing Ed O’Donoghue as reserve lock.
However, the likes of Anthony Fainga’a (knee), Quade Cooper (collar bone), Greg Holmes (thumb), Dave McDuling (glute), Eddie Quirk (knee), Beau Robinson (calf), Rob Simmons (shoulder) and Ben Tapuai (hamstring) are all still unavailable.
Graham said his side was looking forward to returning to Suncorp Stadium and playing against a strong Force side that upset the Waratahs with a 25-13 win last week.
“Last weekend was a poor performance, the group recognise that and they are determined to deliver a strong performance on Saturday,” he said.
“Our focus this week has been mainly around getting our set piece and defence right. The game usually flows on the back of controlling the collision zone and they start with those two areas.”
Queensland Reds: James Slipper (capt), Saia Fainga’a, Sam Talakai, Marco Kotze, James Horwill, Adam Thomson, Liam Gill, Jake Schatz, Will Genia, James OConnor, Lachie Turner, Samu Kerevi, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Chris Kuridrani, Karmichael Hunt. Res: James Hanson, Ben Daley, Sef Faagase, Tom Murday, Curtis Browning, Nick Frisby, Sam Johnson, Campbell Magnay.
