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You don't pick Handre Pollard to score tries
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James O'Connor reflects on Leicester role after Billy Searle rise
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James O’Connor was the most high-profile name to arrive at Leicester Tigers last summer, joining to fill the void left by Handre Pollard.
Many expected the Wallaby to be the preferred fly-half this season at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, with fellow new signings Billy Searle and Orlando Bailey being back-up. Even the way O’Connor’s signing was announced two hours after Searle’s and an hour after Bailey’s suggested the pair were effectively warm-up acts to the main event.
After his arrival in the Midlands from the Rugby Championship, O’Connor shared the playmaking duties with his team-mates, before Searle was trusted with the No.10 jersey in December – aided by a hamstring injury to the Australian – and he hasn’t looked back, sitting third in the Gallagher PREM points table, with O’Connor often providing a support role from the bench.
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Searle has been one of the performers of the PREM this season, which few foresaw when he signed from Agen in June, in the latest chapter in a well-travelled career.
But O’Connor is happy with the role he has been given this season, and while he admitted on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby recently that he would like to play at No.10, he has a positive outlook.
“I’ve got a lot of time for Billy,” the 69-cap Australian said. “He’s a good man. I’ve said quite openly – for me, it was 30 and he’s turning 30 as well – it takes a long time to be able to learn how to manage a game and really play that position at 10.
“I played everywhere else and then sort of worked my way into playing there. I feel like he’s always had a great skill set. I played against him when he was at Worcester and all these other teams, but I think he understands his game now. He knows how to put the team in the right areas of the field; he’s reading the game really well. I’ll watch him play, and we’ll have convos, and I’ll be like ‘Look, every option I saw you take, I would have done the same option. Probably would not have been able to do that kick, but I probably would have stepped through.’
“Every team requires something different of you, and don’t get me wrong, do I want to play 10? Of course I want to play 10. But I’ve got to look from the other side of the fence as well, and that’s I trust a lot in my life now – what happens is just what is meant to be. When I don’t play as many minutes, I’m like ‘maybe that’s me being looked after or maybe there’s a bigger play at hand, or maybe I’m just meant to come on.’
“I am 35 now, so there are limitations to what I can do and how long I can play for. I really enjoy coming on and finishing games and it’s great that Leicester are doing so well at the moment, the team’s playing well, we’ve got some momentum. Obviously, we’ve got some tough oppositions coming up, in the next little bit, but I’m just enjoying being a part of it.”
