James David O'Connor (born 5 July 1990) is an Australian professional

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 ...

footballer who currently plays for

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

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 ...

. He made his international debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 2008 at the age of eighteen. He has played for the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

and

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

. In 2013 he played for English Premiership side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

, and in the 2014–15 season he moved to France to play in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition for

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. His regular playing positions are Fly-half, Centre, Fullback and Wing.

Early life

O'Connor was born in Australia on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. He lived in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

for five years as a child, attending Rutherford Primary School, until the age of eleven when he returned to Australia with his family. He became a boarder at

Nudgee College , motto_translation = A Sign of Faith , location = Boondall, Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_name = St. Joseph's Nudgee College , former_name ...

in Brisbane's northern suburbs. In 2006 O'Connor suffered a ruptured spleen, but went on to be part of the Australian Schools representative team that played against England, Samoa and New Zealand in 2007. O'Connor's parents are from New Zealand, and his maternal grandparents from South Africa. This, along with his Australian birth, meant he was eligible for all three Tri Nations teams. However, his decision to play for the Wallabies, and debut in 2008, meant he became ineligible to play for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

. He also played for the

Australian Sevens The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and o ...

in 2008.

Professional career

O'Connor became the youngest ever

debutant at the age of 17, and the second youngest Wallaby in Australian rugby history at the age of 18.

2008–2013: Early years

O'Connor joined the

Force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

in 2008, and came off the bench for his first Super 14 cap in a match against the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

in Week 10 of the 2008 season. He completed the season's final three matches running on at inside centre. Later that year he made his

n debut, when he came off the bench as replacement fullback against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

,. He played Italy again in June 2009 scoring three tries to help Australia to a 31–8 win. In 2009, O'Connor was the Western Force 'Rookie of the Year' award and also won the Wallabies 'Rookie of the Year'. In 2012 O'Connor commenced a two-year contract with the

. His teammates included Nic Stirzaker, fullback

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

, centre

Mitch Inman Mitch Inman (born 24 October 1988) is an Australian rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is either centre or wing . He represents the Rebels in Super Rugby. Playing history Inman is a graduate of Saint Ignatius' College in Syd ...

, and English international

Danny Cipriani Danny Cipriani (; born 2 November 1987) is an English professional rugby union player currently unattached. He most recently played for Premiership Rugby side Bath and previously played for Gloucester, Sale Sharks and Wasps in the Premiership ...

. He played at fly-half for the Wallabies in three Tests against the Lions and was included in a five-man leadership group for the team. After continued ill-discipline off the field, the Rebels withdrew from contract extension negotiations at the end of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumb ...

and he was released by the franchise. Following a number of off-field indiscretions on O'Connor's part and a drunken incident at Perth Airport, O'Connor's ARU top-up contract was torn up and was suspended from the remainder of the test season. Following this low, O'Connor was in talks with the Western Force and the Queensland Reds however, nothing eventuated and O'Connor was forced to ply his trade offshore.

2013–2014: First European stint

On 28 October 2013, O'Connor indicated that he was en route to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to play rugby for "a few months". He was signed by

in October 2013 until the end of the 2013–14 season. He made his debut against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

on 3 November and set up the only try that day. He claimed his first try for the club against

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

on 4 January 2014, in a match ending 22–9 to the Exiles with O'Connor scoring all 22 points.

2015: Super Rugby return and Wallabies comeback attempt

In 2015, he returned to Super Rugby in a bid to make the Wallabies Rugby World Cup 2015 squad by playing for the

. O'Connor produced solid performances and was arguably one of the higher performers for a poor Queensland outfit, being shifted between fullback, flyhalf and wing in his first appearances before locking down the Red 15 jersey in the last rounds of the season. Although a part of Wallabies coach

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is currently head coach of Argentina in rugby union and Lebanon in rugby league. Cheika was the coach of the Australia r ...

's squads for Wallabies logistics camps throughout the course of the year, O'Connor was not included in the first extended 40-man and subsequently did not feature in any of the squads to follow, including the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad. O'Connor was announced to be part of Brisbane City's squad for their NRC title-defending campaign. On 13 October, the QRU and Queensland Reds announced that O'Connor would be released from his contract effective immediately, meaning he would not play the 2016 Super Rugby season for the Reds and finish his 2-year contract. O'Connor's release also meant the end of a potential appearance for Brisbane City in the domestic NRC had he sufficiently recovered to play.

2015–2019: Second European stint

In 2015, after failing to make the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

squad with the , O'Connor signed with

, joining former Super Rugby and Wallabies teammates

Matt Giteau Matthew James Giteau (born 29 September 1982) is an Australian rugby union professional player who is playing with the LA Giltinis of Major League Rugby (MLR). Giteau joined the Giltinis after a short playing stint with the Gungahlin Eagles in ...

Drew Mitchell Drew Alan Mitchell (born 26 March 1984) is a former Australian rugby union professional player. He played on the wing or as fullback. Up to the 2006 season he played for the Queensland Reds. He played for the Western Force for the 2007–09 Sup ...

and

Quade Cooper Quade Santini Cooper (born 5 April 1988) is a professional rugby union player and occasional boxer. Although born in New Zealand, he has represented Australia in rugby at international level. He currently plays for Hanazono Liners in Japan, ...

. After allegations of cocaine use and

decided not to renew his contract and thus he left the club at the ending of the season. In 2017 O'Connor signed with

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

shortly before the 2017–18 season. After playing 31 games over 2 years, Sale Sharks agreed to a contract release, allowing him to pursue him ambition to play for Australia at the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

2019–present: Return to Australia and Wallabies comeback

In July 2019, O'Connor signed a 2-year deal with the Queensland Reds and Rugby Australia under what was understood to be strict behavioural clauses. He quickly made his way back into the Australian team for Australia's 47–26 win over New Zealand in Perth, and was subsequently selected in Australia's World Cup squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Style of play

James O'Connor is a very versatile player, being able to play anywhere in the back line as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

, full-back or

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

and is usually described as a utility back. When asked about his preferred position in 2009, he said, "I feel more comfortable at 12 as a second ball player. I also like 15. You definitely get a lot of space. I just want to get on the field whether it is 10, 12 or 15." He is also an accurate goal-kicker.

Off-field

Controversies

O'Connor has been involved in a number of off-field controversies, attracting criticism from senior members of the Wallabies. Most recently, in September 2013, he was stood down from the Wallabies following an incident in which he was removed from Perth airport by Australian Federal Police. As a result, O'Connor missed the final two matches of the 2013 Rugby Championship and was released from his Wallabies contract by the Australian Rugby Union. In February 2017 O'Connor was arrested together with former All Blacks player,

Ali Williams Alexander James "Ali" Williams (born 30 April 1981) is a New Zealand rugby union player who played at lock, spending almost all of his playing career in his homeland. At provincial level, he played mainly with Auckland, though he spent one seaso ...

, in Paris on suspicion of attempting to buy

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

Media

O'Connor was a participant in the second season of reality competition series ''

Australia's Greatest Athlete ''Australia's Greatest Athlete'' is an Australian television program that debuted in 2009. The first season was broadcast on the Nine Network and was hosted by Andrew Voss and Michael Slater, with Ricky Ponting as a sideline commentator. The sec ...

''.

References

External links

James O'Connor
at

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

James O'Connor
at ItsRugby.co.uk

at

ESPNscrum ESPNscrum was an online news site based in United Kingdom dedicate to providing the latest news in Rugby union. It provided live minute-by-minute updates on major international and club games and kept an in-depth statistics on every international ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, James Australia international rugby union players Australian expatriate rugby union players Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian people of Dutch descent Australian people of South African descent Australian rugby union players Living people Melbourne Rebels players Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Western Force players London Irish players RC Toulonnais players Queensland Reds players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in France 1990 births Male rugby sevens players Sale Sharks players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union players from Queensland