Joe Schmidt has made the call to bring in experienced flyhalf James O'Connor following the eleventh hour loss of Noah Lolesio for the British & Irish Lions - and if anyone is more surprised about the call, it is O'Connor himself.
The veteran flyhalf woke up this morning thinking his opportunity to make the squad had come and gone - revealing he'd missed a call from the Wallabies coach confirming he was in.
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Speaking to the media following the announcement, O'Connor admitted he was "still rattled" - only finding out two hours ago before the press conference thanks to a chance run in with his now Wallaby team mates.
"I thought it had passed," O'Connor admitted candidly about the whirlwind day he was having.
"I had a few conversations with the boys who found out last night.
"This morning I was doing some sevens training with Shannon [Parry] and the development sevens team, the women's team, this morning at Ballymore.
"I did a little session with them and then I had to actually get my UK visa done. Me and the wife went in, got my visa and then I just saw a couple of the boys on the corner, literally about 100 metres up the road.
"I drove the car up there and pulled it around just to say good luck for the tour, etc. Then two minutes later, Joe comes walking out and he's like, 'man, I tried to call you!'
"I was like, 'oh, you can give me the bad news now then'… and he's like, 'no, you're in. You better get home and pack your bags.' We've got an hour until the release.
"I'm still a bit rattled, as you can probably tell!"
Needless to say, O'Connor's plans are set to change drastically - with the Super Rugby winning flyhalf recently signing to play for the Leicester Tigers for the 2025-26 season.
O'Connor revealed he had some explaining to do to his partner in the two hours leading up to the event, and admitted it still doesn't feel real, with all the Wallaby camp knowing before he did.
"She wasn't with me, but I was with her for the last hour," he explained.
"I just caught her in the car on the way there. It was stunning. I've been on this journey for a long time to get to this place. She knows how much it means to me. Just to be a part of it in any way, shape or form, it's incredible.
"I thought he [Joe] was joking… because everyone was already at the hotel and everyone knew. The boys always say, if you get a call, no news is good news, apparently. He'd given me a call.
"He shook my hand and told me - and I was double checking. I was like, 'are you serious?'
"Honestly, it hasn't sunk in yet. Genuinely, it's very surreal."
Schmidt gave his side of the story following the squad announcement on Friday afternoon, revealing he'd been in routine conversation with the veteran playmaker and several of his Crusader teammates in the lead up to his decision.
Despite not being in the Wallabies camp and with the side only eight days out from their first Test match against the Lions, Schmidt expects O'Connor to be able to catch up quickly.
"I've been talking to James for a long time, right through the Super Rugby season," Schmidt said.
"Obviously, we started with Noah and with his injury, we needed to replace him. Our tens are young in experience anyway, so to get James to come in, [I] talked to Tom Lynagh a little bit around the influence he had on him and his development - and that was really positive.
"I've talked to David Havili, who's obviously in with the AUNZ team at the moment; I've coached Davey and have a lot of time for Davey's opinion. He said that James was a real help with the two young tens at the Crusaders, so from that perspective, they were positives.
"We've had a few conversations during the year, as I said, so he's not completely separated from what we're doing. He will be playing catch-up, but he's experienced enough to catch-up pretty quickly."
Despite the shock to the system, Schmidt admits that O'Connor will be raring to go when come Saturday next week - giving his side on their conversation from earlier in the day.
"He said, I was just in town and saw you guys and thought I'd have a chat," he said.
"I said, no, you're back in the fold. He's pretty happy to be in the fold and immediately has a spring in his step, which is great.
"He said that [he thought it was a joke]. The two boys who were with me just looked at him and said, no, he doesn't joke, which I took to heart really. I wouldn't say I'm completely humorless, but maybe that self-awareness needs to be a little bit deeper.
"'You're kidding.' That was his reaction and I think he was pretty happy. He certainly ducked off pretty quickly to get his gear and come back again.
"We'd had discussions earlier in the week, we'd had discussions before the Fiji squad was named. It's not as sudden as this morning's discussion in that there had been ongoing discussions, but some of those discussions had been with other options as well. We settled on James."
O'Connor doesn't expect he'll be slotted straight into the side, but hopes to bring anything he can to deliver a series win.
"We'll see what happens," O'Connor added.
"Obviously, maybe the other guys are the first bite of the cherry. But even just anything I can do to help. That's what I've said to Joe in the past, any little bit of knowledge I can share.
"I know how big of an occasion it is. It's bigger than a World Cup. I don't want to take it for granted.
"It only comes every 12 years. Any of these guys have been a part of it, and you get one shot at it usually. So you want your aim to be true.
"[It was] always the green and gold. This is my country.
"It's just a whirlwind. The emotions probably might crash in about an hour, I reckon."
