Rugby’s reformed party boy James O’Connor: I prefer walking my dog these days

When James O’Connor first arrived in English rugby with London Irish in 2013, it was as a wild-eyed 23-year-old party boy whose priorities, let’s say, were not limited to the field.

“Obviously I cared in the game, but it was a different care, a 23-year-old who’s got his mind on other things, whose mind’s more on going out, and rugby’s just a side piece,” said O’Connor, who has now pitched up for his third spell in Prem Rugby as the wise old head at Leicester.

After landing in England at 6.30am on Monday morning after playing in the latest Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand, the Australian playmaker is still battling the effects of jetlag. At 35, O’Connor still retains his boyish looks but his extracurricular activities have profoundly changed. Now he is more interested in walking his dog, Apollo, around the countryside of his new home in Market Harborough.

“I’ve got some hikes and a couple of things in the countryside to look forward to,” O’Connor said. “I’ve had this joke with my wife as well, even more when we were in France. When boys would go on hikes and walks, she’d be looking at them doing that and I’m like: ‘None of those guys want to be doing that. It’s terrible.’ Now I’m that guy, who loves getting outdoors.”

One of the advantages of committing so many youthful indiscretions is that O’Connor can now pass on those tough life lessons to the next generation. In recruiting O’Connor, Leicester head coach Geoff Parling brought not just a frontline fly-half but a mentor to younger players in the squad which was the same role that he filled for the Crusaders in Super Rugby.

“Part of the enjoyment of me being here and why I play rugby still is that element of teaching the next generation so they don’t have to go through a lot of the hard lessons off the field, but also on the field,” O’Connor said. “I feel like one-on-one coaching, player to player, is huge.”

The second spell in English rugby was with Sale Sharks between 2017 and 2019 which was a turning point in O’Connor’s career. Fresh from being arrested for drug offences in Paris, he was the definition of damaged goods when he arrived in Manchester. Under Steve Diamond, he found a new lease of life which would eventually lead to his international recall, even if it was not always a happy experience.

“At Sale that’s where I started my rebuild and really learning the intricacies of rugby,” O’Connor said. “That’s where my love for it came back. It was a tough period for me with injuries and life away from rugby but I rebuilt my rugby and my life.

“I’ve contemplated retiring quite a few times. When I couldn’t get my ankle right. I was like, if I get injured once more, I’m done, I can’t do this again. I was getting that frustrated. It had been sort of three years of the same ankle, not being able to do what you can see, things that you used to be able to do.

“So then having to change your game. I’ve had to change my game four or five times because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be playing anymore. You have to study it, learn new ways. Like you’re not as fast anymore, you’re not as abrasive. It’s just about adapting and growing. And the game’s changed as well. There’s these structures where defences are organised now, knowing how the new systems and what defence coaches are using, little elements of that.”

‘Playing in the Prem is more chess than checkers’

Another difference from his London Irish days is that O’Connor is now a full-time fly-half, a position he has gradually moved to as his speed as a back-three player diminished and his game awareness increased. O’Connor has used Danny Cipriani, his old running buddy back in his party days, as a sounding board.

Part of the appeal of returning to England was the opportunity to play “chess rather than checkers” plus what he calls the “fire” and “smoke” of an East Midlands derby this weekend. Plus there was the nagging sense of unfinished business after his two previous spells with Irish and Sale. “I felt s--- in a way because Sale didn’t get the best version of me,” O’Connor said. “Just as I left, I came good.

“So that’s what was exciting for me, coming here. The version I am now, where this club is at, the history of this club. It’s a different game, it’s a different style, it’s a lot more chess rather than checkers over here. Speaking to my wife and sitting on it, I didn’t think I’d come back to the UK. I thought I might go somewhere else or finish up coaching. And then just where I’m at, how I’m loving rugby, where my body feels, I was like, what is something that excites me? And the thing that kept exciting me was like, go to the f------ UK, give your best version and play the way you can play, not what you gave last time.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]