James O’Connor: the former Aussie larrakin finds a home in New Zealand rugby

By Canadian Press on February 15, 2025.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — When James O’Connor made his first appearance in Super Rugby for the Christchurch-based Crusaders on Friday it marked the latest and possibly last episode in a playing career which has taken him from enfant terrible to elder statesman.

The 34-year-old took the field as a 57th minute replacement as the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 33-25 in the first match of the 2025 season. He produced an impactful performance, taking the ball to the line repeatedly and making a short pass to Will Jordan that contributed to a try by Sevu Reece.

O’Connor’s debut for the Crusaders came almost 17 years to the day since he made his first appearance as a 17-year-old for the Western Force, becoming the second-youngest player to play Super Rugby.

His career since has been an itinerant and checkered one in which his exceptional skill in a variety of backline positions has been offset by injuries and troubles off the field. Those issues disrupted his international career and restricted him to only 64 tests for the Wallabies in 14 years.

O’Connor’s reputation as a troubled young man has traveled with him, making him at times almost an exile from his own country.

Even in joining the Crusaders, O’Connor became an unwilling flashpoint for controversy. The former Crusaders and All Blacks prop asked why his former club would invest in a player of O’Connor’s age, rather than in a younger, local player.

“I don’t like it,” Crockett said. “You’re taking short term gain for an experienced player but you lose that development position for another young guy who could go on to become an All Black.”

But O’Connor’s value to the Crusaders was apparent in his brief debut on Friday. The Crusaders were without 13 front-line players, all injured, and had a shortage of experience after recent retirements. O’Connor brings a maturity and seniority which the Crusaders lack, making a late and ironic transition to the role of elder statesman.

Queensland-born O’Connor had long harbored a desire to play for a New Zealand Super Rugby team. He holds a New Zealand passport through his parents both of whom were born in New Zealand and quickly accepted when the Crusaders offered a one-year deal.

“It is very exciting for me as an Aussie with Kiwi parents to be able to take a peek behind the window and see a club that’s had so much success and to just be a part of it and feel it,” O’Connor told a news conference before his debut. “I’ve got ambitions of going into coaching so I’m really enjoying it. It’s definitely different, in a great way.

“I’d always thought about it, I’ll put it that way. But for it to be able to be reality is a very different thing. I’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to play in New Zealand.”

It all began for O’Connor when he played for the Brisbane club Brothers as a teenager and after having played briefly for Australian Schoolboys. It was apparent at a glance that he was a player of exceptional talent. He made his debut for the Western Force within months and for Australia at the age of 18.

Off-field troubles became an almost constant counterpoint to his career. He was released early from his first contract with the Queensland Reds and Wallabies coaches treated him with wariness.

In 2013 he was stood down by the Wallabies after being removed by police from Perth Airport. In 2017 he was arrested in Paris on suspicion of attempting to buy cocaine and released without penalty.

There were other minor incidents and O’Connor became a sort of rugby nomad, playing for London Irish, then Toulon in France and the Sale Sharks before reviving his career with the Reds from 2019.

It is in this later iteration of his career that O’Connor finds himself at the Crusaders, as a player at last comfortable in his own skin.

“I felt like I wasn’t quite done,” he said. “Coming here it took a bit of courage to put myself out there but I’m very glad that I did.”

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Steve Mcmorran, The Associated Press

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