Australia coach Robbie Deans believes it is his job to keep James O'Connor's feet on the ground.
Teenager could be rested for second Italy Test
Australia coach Robbie Deans believes it is his job to keep James O'Connor's feet on the ground - and that could mean dropping him for the next game against Italy.
The 18-year-old made the headlines with a hat-trick against the Azzurri in the first Test on Saturday, the full-back's first outing in the green and gold.
But while Deans recognised O'Connor's achievement, he says bigger tests are ahead of him - especially if, as expected, he moves closer to the action in the number 10 jersey.
"This will be a great foundation for him," Deans said of O'Connor's selection at fullback. "It's just a great place for him to enter the game. He gets more time.
"He can see things unfold and I've got no doubt that he has the ability over time to push up into the front line.
"But he's still a young man and he's still growing into his body and we didn't want him to be exposed to that week-in, week-out battering that you tend to get in the front line."
Current Wallabies fly-half Matt Giteau has taken O'Connor under his wing during their two seasons together at Western force in Perth, and he has no doubt the youngster will not get carried away with his achievement.
"Keeping his feet on the ground, that's certainly one thing I'll be pretty strong on," Giteau said.
"Obviously, he's a huge talent, so to keep him as grounded as possible is the best thing for him, for his development, so he continues to be a great player.
"He knows he played well enough. He knows he can start and play at this level so I'm sure he'll get a lot of confidence out of it and he certainly won't be diminished by getting (dropped).
"It wouldn't really be a dropping, just a replacing."
