James O'Connor's World Cup hopes alive after signing long-term Super Rugby deal
James O’Connor is poised to make his long-awaited return to the Wallabies after signing a long-term deal with the Queensland Reds which could keep him in Brisbane until at least 2022, according to Fox Sports.
O’Connor, who made his Wallabies debut as an 18-year-old in 2008, played the last of his 44 tests in September 2013 against Argentina in Perth, with a string of off-field controversies, culminating in a drunken incident at Perth Airport shortly after the Argentina test, forcing the 28-year-old into the wilderness at international level.
Stints in Europe with London Irish, Toulon and Sale Sharks followed, as did a one-year tenure with the Reds in 2015, but O’Connor hasn’t been able to force himself back into the Australian national side, until now.
Fox Sports has confirmed that the second-youngest Wallaby of all-time will return to Super Rugby next year, linking up with the Reds for a second spell after his underwhelming campaign with the Queensland side four years ago.
The move from Premiership side Sale makes O’Connor eligible for Wallabies selection, as he had previously been ineligible while playing in England and France as he didn’t meet the 60-test requirement to play tests for Australia while playing club rugby overseas.
It appears that O’Connor will be thrusted into Michael Cheika’s Rugby Championship squad in preparation for the World Cup in Japan, which takes place in two months’ time, and will board the team’s plane to South Africa for their Championship opener against the Springboks in Johannesburg on July 21.
Fox Sports is also reporting that Rugby Australia used the prospect of playing for the Australian sevens side at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo to help lure O’Connor back, with national team coaches Tim Walsh and Stephen Hoiles holding talks with the ex-Western Force and Melbourne Rebels star in London two months ago.
It means that O’Connor could be involved in the abbreviated version of the game as early as September, should he miss selection for the World Cup.
If that were the case, then he would likely partake in the first four tournaments of the 2019-20 World Sevens Series, to be held in Dubai, Cape Town, Hamilton and Sydney between December and February.
However, as per the demands of Australian director of rugby Scott Johnson, O’Connor will still be contracted to the Reds for next season as part of his multi-year deal.
His arrival back home will help ease the loss of departing Reds and Wallabies midfielder Samu Kerevi, who will join Suntory Sungoliath in the Japanese Top League at the end of this year.
Able to cover anywhere in the backline bar halfback, O’Connor’s return will provide valuable versatility for both the Reds and Wallabies, while his 11-year professional career will also be of immense benefit.
O’Connor’s former Force, Toulon and Wallabies teammate Drew Mitchell was full of praise about the utility back’s return to Australian rugby, who turns 29 on Friday.
“I think he should be welcomed back,” Mitchell said to Fox Sports last week.
“It’s been well documented about the number of players that are leaving Super Rugby and you’ve got someone of the quality of James O’Connor wanting to come back.
“I think most certainly we need to find a way to fit him into one of our teams and allow him to come back and fulfil his potential here in Australia.
“I was at the Force when he turned up as a young 17-year-old, so I’ve known him since the start of his professional career and I’ve had this conversation with James a number of times, we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye throughout that journey.
“When he turned up to Toulon we had a team full of stars. James, even when he started at school, was always a big fish and the star that everyone turned to and the one that got all the press and the rest of it, and for the first time when he turned up to Toulon he was just one amongst the others…
“But in that environment where we were for those few years. no-one was bigger than the team and James’ willingness to jump in line, be himself most certainly, but also do everything for the betterment of the group was for me a big indication that he grew a fair amount in that time from when I played with him previously in Australia.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments