'He's gone blue, stopped moving. He's stopped breathing. I'm screaming'

Former England player Delon Armitage has recalled the now infamous James O’Connor bus seizure in the south of France, which made headlines back in 2016 – a scene he witnessed first-hand.

The then Toulon fullback Armitage was playing cards with O’Connor when the Wallabies star started fitting in front of him on the way back from a Top 14 game at Oyonnax.

O’Connor’s hard-partying lifestyle – which included booze and drugs – had eventually caught up with him and although teammate Armitage can laugh about the incident now, he admits he found it deeply traumatising at the time.

Delon Armitage – A Mercedes from Martin Johnson & Car Park brawling | RugbyPass Offload | EP 45

Delon Armitage – A Mercedes from Martin Johnson & Car Park brawling | RugbyPass Offload | EP 45

Taking up the tale on the RugbyPass Offload Podcast, Armitage sets out the scene as the Toulon bus sped along the motorway in France.

“We had an away game and we were [returning] on the bus. You have your losers at the front, on their phones, watching a film.

“Then you have the middle guys who will have a sip, one or two few drinks. Not too keen.

“You’ve got the back of the bus, music guys. Just in front of them, where the tables are you’ve got your card playing boys. Your poker boys. If you’re not playing cards you can’t sit there.

“Where we had that table, underneath we had a cooler for drinks. If you won the game that would be full. If you hadn’t you might have a couple.

“I was sat there with James and few others. All of a sudden he starts twitching around. He’s opposite me. I’m quite a squeamish guy. I don’t like stuff like that. I don’t even watch horror films.

“And the way he was twitching, I straight away jumped up. Then he banged his head on the window and I was thinking this isn’t right. Then he starts really biting down. Now that scared me.

“I was screaming and [Mathieu] Bastareaud starts screaming as well. We’re screaming for the doctor to come. I was panicking and shaking.”

Teammate Mamuka Gorgodze had a rather unorthodox approach to treating O’Connor’s seizure, arguing that if he punched him unconscious the seizure would stop.

“Then the Georgian, Mamuka arrived and he said we have to stop him swallowing his tongue. I said the way he’s biting if you put your finger in that’s gone.

“He decides if he throws some punches, he’ll knock him out he’ll relax. He starts punching him, trying to put him out cold. If he’s out cold he won’t swallow his tongue [he argued].

“I said nah, nah, nah, stop that. You’ll knock his teeth out,” a panic-stricken Armitage pleaded. “We put him down in the middle [aisle of the bus] and we’re still screaming at the doctor. This has gone on for minutes but it felt like hours.

“He’s gone blue, he’s stopped moving. He’s stopped breathing. I’m screaming at the doctor to come down.”

Despite the commotion, the team doctor was apparently pretty non-plussed by the incident.

“He [the doctor] starts coming down and he’s like it’s fine, saying ‘We’ve got three minutes. We can bring him back. He’ll be fine. It’s okay. It’s all good.” He’s [the doctor] nice and relaxed coming down and I’ve put [O’Connor] in position and hold him. But he’s like blue so I’m sweating, thinking this guy is dying in my hand!”

The Australian then came around.

“Next thing – boom – he’s come back. He lying there and they’ve stopped the bus on the motorway. Everybody is shoved off the bus.”

Los Pumas star Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe had different priorities once it was clear the Aussie had come around.

“All I can remember in my head is Juan [Martín Fernández] Lobbe going ‘Can you move?’.

“I was like ‘What?’ and he said ‘Can you get out of the way?’ He’s got James’ leg and he’s lifted it up and he’s gone between his leg and started grabbing beers out and he’s like ‘Well, we’re going to be waiting for a while’.

“I’m like this guy has almost died,” laughs Armitage. “I looked at him and he’s like ‘What? What?’ And he then walks away with the beers.

“So James gets up. Doesn’t have a clue what happened. He didn’t have a clue who I was. My brother was there as well, Steff. I think he only knew who Steff was. No one else, so that was kind of weird.

“He didn’t know who I was so I was like ‘I’m just going to grab a beer’ and walked out. We had to wait for an ambulance. We had to wait there for hours.

“When it got there he didn’t want to go. He was in the hospital for like three days.”

Another seizure would become a turning point for the Wallaby – now 32 – who has since returned to Australia and gone on to play again for the Wallabies.