By Jon Geddes

GORDON’S coaching “magician” Billy Melrose has pulled another rabbit from his hat in the countdown to the Shute Shield finals by recruiting former Warringah Rats captain and Waratahs prop Rory O’Connor for the remainder of the season.

O’Connor made his shock debut for the Highlanders as a second half replacement in last Saturday’s 39-38 win over West Harbour at Chatswood Oval after answering an SOS from a desperate Melrose just two days before.

To say Warringah players were surprised to hear their former skipper was now running around in a tartan jumper is an understatement.    

“We had a massive injury toll and literally lost four props,” Melrose told Rugby News.

That led the Gordon coach on a frantic journey to see if anyone suitable was available to start straight away.

His search last week led him to connect with over 20 potential candidates in Australia and overseas.

“It was an incredibly tense five days with lack of lack of sleep,” Melrose admitted. “I pretty much stayed up all Saturday night – I was looking at the MLR (Major League Rugby) for any Aussie who might be coming back.

“And they had to be able to put their foot on the field last Saturday.”       

 Melrose’s perseverance paid off when he contacted O’Connor, who has not played this year and happens to work as an engineer with Melrose’s brother Gregg’s company, last Wednesday.

“I respect Rory and thought ‘you know what, I’ll just call him’,” Melrose said.

The highly regarded front rower, who never got a fair crack at the Waratahs, then spoke to Melrose on Thursday at 1pm and agreed to pull on the boots again.

“He got excited by the opportunity and he said, ‘I’m in’,” Melrose said. “He is good, experienced player, albeit he hasn’t played for 10 months or so.”

O’Connor’s arrival came on the heels of Melrose convincing former Super Rugby five-eighth Rodney Iona to join the Highlanders for the rest of this 2023 campaign.             

RACING WITH RORY  

IT was some performance  from O’Connor to play 30 minutes at prop in first grade against match-hardened opposition after so long on the sideline and just one training session under his belt at a new club.

“It was a big effort,” Melrose said. “There is a difference between going for a run or going to the gym and sticking your head in the front row a couple of days later.

“I’m sure there was a bit of rust, but good players have a way of coming to the fore pretty quickly.”   

Melrose used some horseracing parlance to describe O’Connor’s situation.

“It’s like saying you have a Group One horse and they haven’t run for a year,” he said. “If you put them back on the track bit early they are probably a chance to compete OK because they have a bit of quality.

“It doesn’t mean they are going to beat Winx the next day.”

Melrose told O’Connor that after getting reacquainted with the rugby field last weekend, and after a week’s training, he expects him to be near his best this Saturday against Hunter in Newcastle.

And it won’t be an easy afternoon in the engine room for O’Connor against a Wildfires’ team who pride themselves on their forward strength.

“They got seven scrum penalties the last time they played us,” Melrose said. “They have a terrifically powerful pack of forwards and are a good team.”

Such is the nature of the competition the only game that can’t have a bearing on the make-up of the top six is Warringah v Souths.