Advertisement
James O’connor won his 65th cap for Australia against the Springboks, an incredible 17 years after winning his first against Italy way back in 2008. The Wallabies shock win in Johannesburg may have shaken the rugby world, but it probably wouldn’t even crack the top 10 strangest things of O’Connor’s career.
Through bursting onto the seen as a wonder-kid back in Perth, exile in France, and winning the Super Rugby title in New Zealand, O’Connor has had a rollercoaster rugby career that has spanned every high and low imaginable in professional sport.
At the time of his Super Rugby debut for the Western Force in 2008, O’Connor was the youngest debutant the league had ever seen. His first full season was a sensation, earning his first Australia cap aged 18 (again, the youngest ever) and sewing up both the Force and the Wallabies rookie of the year awards. He continued his upward trajectory by scoring a hat-trick against Italy in 2009 and registered 306 points in 39 games in Super Rugby for the Force.
In 2012 he moved to the Melbourne Rebels, playing for them 21 times and scoring 201 points. By then, O’Connor was already entering his 5th season of test rugby and, despite still being in his early 20s, was becoming one of the Wallabies’ senior players. He started all 3 tests against the British & Irish Lions in 2013, scoring a try in the final test. However, 2013 was to see his test career put on hold thanks to off-field controversy.
O’Connor’s early career was dogged by behavioural issues. He had already been released by the Rebels at the end of the 2013 Super Rugby season and had been forced to apologise to Wallabies teammates for staying out late in the middle of the Lions series. His contract with Rugby Australia was then torn up altogether following an incident at Perth Airport where we ejected by security for alleged drunken behaviour. He was dropped from the Australia test squad and force to head to Europe to secure a contract.
He eventually joined London Irish part way into the 13/14 Premiership season. Utilised mainly at fullback, he scored 100 points in 14 games including 22 against Worcester Warriors. It was to be just one season in London as he hopped over to France to play half a season of TOP14 rugby for the European Champions Toulon.
He then attempted to regain a Wallabies call-up by leaving France and playing a season of Super Rugby for the Reds. He performed reasonably well in Brisbane and was selected in the wider training squad for the 2015 World Cup, but ultimately did not make the cut for Michael Cheek’s squad that went on to play in the final.
He returned to Toulon, but the off field issues continued. He was arrested for allegedly trying to purchase cocaine in Paris and later spoke about how he became dependant on pain killers and alcohol as he struggled to feel at home in France. Things began to spiral out of hand as reports circulated he had suffered a heart attack on the team bus, but this was later confirmed as inaccurate. He left Toulon in 2017 with 116 points in 51 games to his name, the lowest points per game tally of his career, and returned to the Premiership, this time to play for Sale Sharks.
Something that had plagued the first 10 years of O’Connor’s career was constant moving between positions. His talent meant he was capable of playing anywhere in the backline and he has worn every starting number from 10-15. Despite having played at fly-half against the Lions, he only wore the number 10 jersey twice from 2014 through 2016, with Toulon mostly using him as a winger or fullback. He briefly played there for Sale before being shifted back to the centres for the 2018/19 season, during which he scored zero points in 20 games.
However, things were finally starting to align for O’Connor. In 2018, he decided to ‘draw a line in the sand’ and ‘take footy seriously again’. Despite his lack of points scoring, his performances drew the attention of the Wallabies selectors. In 2019 he was allowed a release from his Sale Sharks contract to join up with Australia ahead of the 2019 world cup. Remaining in the centres, he played 8 tests for Australia that year, including 4 at the World Cup. He put in an 80 minute performance in a win over the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship.
After a 7 year exile, he was finally brought back into the fold of Australian rugby, signing a contract with ARU with what was rumoured to contain strict behavioural clauses. He rejoined the Reds and was finally returned to the fly-half position. He was quickly made captain of the Reds and lead them to the Super Rugby AU final in 2020. He worn number 10 for every single game of that campaign, scoring 102 points in 10 games.
O’Connor retained the captains armband for 2021 and took them to the Super Rugby AU title, scoring a try in the final victory over the Brumbies. Meanwhile he was picking up regular Wallabies caps, also at fly-half, but the team struggled for test victories.
He kept his Reds staring sport for 2022 but relinquished the captaincy, citing burnout for his decision to step down. Eddie Jones did not select O’Connor for the 2023 World Cup and he was instead related to play centre for Australia A. Over the next couple of seasons he drifted away from the Red’s starting team, playing just 3 games in 2024 – all off the bench.
Just when O’Connor’s career looked to be reaching a natural conclusion, it received yet another revival. He secured a surprise move to New Zeland franchise the Crusaders, who were rebuilding after a difficult 2024 campaign. The Crusaders rushed back to form in 2025, lifting the Super Rugby title. Aged 34, it was the first time he had won the full version of any domestic league in his career (Super Rugby AU being a truncated version of Super Rugby).
Following an injury to Noah Lolesio in Australia’s Lions warm-up match against Fiji, O’Connor was recalled by Joe Schmidt. He did not play in the Lions series but was selected to start against the Springboks 2 weeks later. He played the full 80 minutes at fly-half, something he had not done since March 2023, assisting a try and landing 4/6 conversions as the Wallabies shocked the Springboks in Johannesburg.
As he gave his post-match interview on Stan Sports, the huge smile on his face told the whole story. The potential everyone had seen way back in Perth all those years ago had finally been delivered upon.
O’Connor’s career can be split into 3 parts: The Rise, the Fall, and the Comeback - with this most recent act almost resembling an encore. Is his the final, thrilling chapter? Well, every time we’ve thought that over the last 17 years, we’ve been wrong.