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
Bold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to comments