Brendon O'Connor (born 11 September 1989) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player, who plays as flanker for

Rugby New York Rugby New York, formerly known as Rugby United New York and now officially nicknamed the Ironworkers, are a professional rugby union team based in New York City that is a member of Major League Rugby (MLR). The team played an exhibition season in ...

(Ironworkers) in

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). He previously played for and in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition and for the and in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. Between 2015 and 2019 he played for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in England's

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. O'Connor won the

2009 IRB Junior World Championship The 2009 IRB Junior World Championship (known as the 2009 IRB Toshiba Junior World Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaces the now def ...

with New Zealand Under 20. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, O'Connor was a member of the Wider Training Group and made two Super Rugby appearances that season. He was signed for the for the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

season. O'Connor would go on to win over 40 Super Rugby caps for the Blues, winning the Blues MVP Award and Player's Player award in 2015. He has also played for in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

. He had previously played for in 2010 and 2011. O'Connor joined English club

for the 2015-2016 Aviva Premiership season. O'Connor made his debut for Leicester Tigers on 13 November 2015 in the opening match of the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

at Welford Road. O'Connor impressed on his debut, winning crucial turnovers, and scoring a try. On 15 May 2019 he was announced as one of the players to leave Leicester following the end of the

2018–19 Premiership Rugby The 2018–19 Gallagher Premiership was the 32nd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the first one to be sponsored by Gallagher. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their fo ...

season. On 7 June 2019, O'Connor re-signed with Hawke's Bay in New Zealand. In January 2022,

announced that O'Connor would join the club to play in the

competition. O'Connor is qualified to represent England at international level through his grandmother.

References

External links

ItsRugby.co.uk Player StatisticsNZ Rugby History profile
Living people 1989 births New Zealand rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Canterbury rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Gisborne, New Zealand People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Leicester Tigers players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby union players in England Sunwolves players Rugby New York players {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub