O'Brien: 'Nothing's set in stone, I'm open to every conversation'
Sean O’Brien has claimed he still hasn’t made a concrete decision on what his future will be once he retires from playing after this Saturday’s final Gallagher Premiership appearance for London Irish. It was April 8 when the two-tour Lions back-rower took to social media to confirm it would soon be all over for him from a playing perspective.
This sparked plenty of speculation about what the 35-year-old might do next and he was quickly linked with a return to Leinster in a coaching capacity given that they are losing backs coach Felipe Contepomi to Argentina while contact skills coach Denis Leamy has been touted as a potential Munster recruit.
O’Brien, though, didn’t add any fuel to this particular fire on Thursday afternoon when he fronted a media briefing ahead of what will be his 29th and last appearance for London Irish this weekend following a three-year stint at the Exiles.
The back-rower is held in high esteem in Ireland for his trophy-winning exploits for both his country and with Leinster, but he didn’t dismiss the idea of staying on in London when asked for an update on what his next move will be. “I have a bit of a firm idea at the minute on how I going to transition out of playing but I can’t say too much at the minute.
“There are a few things on the table over here, I have a few other options outside of rugby back in Ireland, so there are a few things and a few bits and pieces that I need to chat through again over the next couple of weeks and kind of set it up in stone before anything is announced. I’ll look forward to doing that when the time is right.”
London Irish have shed more light on last Friday's decision by the legendary Sean O'Brien to retire, w/@heagneyl ??? #LondonIrish #IrishRugby
https://t.co/vYQaj01t9n— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 12, 2022
So you are open to the possibility of staying in London? “Yeah, it’s something I wanted to do and if things go the right way that could happen but if not, I always like to have kind of a backup plan so we’ll see how that all pans out over the next week or so.
“That is what I am trying to fish out at the minute,” he added when asked if remaining at London Irish was an option. “There is a bit going on here, they are trying to figure out maybe what I could possibly do but you know I don’t know, that is probably not a question for me to answer, it’s probably a question for them to answer down the line. But again, there are options that we are chatting through and hopefully sooner rather than later, I will know exactly what I am doing.”
Your rugby options, are they in the UK only? “They are not confined to the UK, there are conversations going on both here and at home. Even my own club in Tullow and bits and pieces have asked questions. I know that is a different level but I’d love to get back involved with them if I did move home.
“But yeah, I am open to every conversation at the minute. As I said, there have been a lot of conversations and I suppose I will have to make decisions very soon on what I want to do and where I want to go and how best it suits me from a learning perspective and my development, whether it be coaching or whether it be in business. There is nothing set in stone yet but I’m definitely going to make a decision in the next week or so.”
Aside from playing for London Irish, O’Brien has been coaching the defence once a week at Rosslyn Park, the London-based National 1 club that finished third in their league behind Sale and champions Caldy who won promotion to the Championship next season. That has been an eye-opening experience.
“It’s a funny the mix of people, a certain amount of lads that really want to do well and others who are happy with Saturday rugby and do not want to go Championship, so how do you deal with those guts in training sessions because some weeks they are red hot and some weeks you know they are not quite on it or mightn’t be up for the game as much?
“That was a tricky balance. Luckily I was only doing defence, so that was up to the head coach the DoR to try and deal with more so than me. Coaching is frustrating as well if everyone is not buying into what you are trying to push them towards and develop them on, but it is very rewarding.
“The rewards are super when you put a plan in place and they go and execute it really well. It could be a winning turnover, it could be a heavy set of D to win the game. I got my kick out of watching back some of the clips that we worked on during the year.”
As regards the emotions of his impending playing farewell at Irish, O’Brien added: “It’s excitement. When you know your time is coming to an end you want to enjoy and soak up the atmosphere and the last few weeks that you have around the boys. That is what I am feeling at the minute, just relishing the last few days and enjoying the weekend.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
1 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
38 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
38 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
38 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to commentsHi Dr Nick! I'm worried that I've started to enjoy watching England and have actually wanted them to win their last two games. What would you prescribe? On a more serious note, I've noticed that the standard of play in March is often better than early February. Do you think this is because of the weather or because the players have been together for longer?
38 Go to comments