James O'Connor coming to Europe

First topic message reminder :

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/james-oconnor-to-play-in-europe-next-year-20131023-2w0pz.html


'Exiled Wallabies star James O'Connor says he remains hopeful of representing Australia in the 2015 Rugby World Cup despite planning a short-term move to play in England.
O'Connor revealed on Wednesday he was in talks with several English clubs about a deal "for a few months", but was eyeing a return to the Western Force and the Wallabies afterwards.
His decision comes after he had his contract with the Australian Rugby Union terminated earlier this month and he was suspended from the Wallabies for the rest of the year in the wake of an incident at Perth airport and previous off-field behavioural issues.

The Force had been his last avenue to continue playing professionally in Australia after he was unwanted back at the Melbourne Rebels, with other Super Rugby clubs expressing no interest.
"I have decided that I will be moving overseas next month as part of a short-term playing contract," O'Connor said.
"I am in final discussions with several clubs and will announce the new partnership in coming days.
"I believe the move, for a few months, will be beneficial for me to develop in a different environment and help me be the best rugby player and person that I can be.
"It will also ensure that I continue playing professional rugby immediately and not wait until early in the New Year to resume competition."
O'Connor said his management was continuing discussions with the Western Force about a future deal and he could possibly play the latter stages of the next Super Rugby season.
"Both (coach) Michael Foley and (chief executive) Mark Sinderberry have been great supporters of mine and I greatly appreciate it," he said.
"The past few weeks have given me an opportunity to look at all aspects of my life both professionally and personally," he said.
"I want to give myself every opportunity to get back into the Wallabies side and to represent Australia in the 2015 World Cup."
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie had expressed interest in helping the 23-year-old veteran of 44 Tests to get back on track.'

Where do we think he's headed folks?

has he been actually tearing it up in the pubs...drinking constantly or has it just been a couple of occasions?

If its the latter is it a huge issue?

His f'ups have been harmless enough from a crime spree point of view Geordie, but there has been a few of them. Foodfight in hotel; drunk fight with Quade and Kurtley; slept through the world cup launch; out at 4am before the Lions second test; slept through recovery session; kicked out of Perth airport.   I think there has only been one where the fuzz were involved which was the last one.  

In reality there are usually clubs that will take on a problem child if they are good enough, and he is certainly good enough.  It seems the main problem is his personality has left it where no club really wants him on their books regardless of his talent.  There was a damning (I thought) quote from a Wallabies official who said Beale's issues stem from a drinking problem, Quade's from being a bit too dumb, but JOCs are that he is just too cunning. It's a shame because he is very good.

15. Ojo
14. Yarde
13. O'Connor
12. Sheridan
11. Tagicakibau
10. Humphreys/Geraghty
9. O'Leary

is going to be one hell of a backline!

      

Ozzy3213 wrote:15. Ojo
14. Yarde
13. O'Connor
12. Sheridan
11. Tagicakibau
10. Humphreys/Geraghty
9. O'Leary

is going to be one hell of a backline!

      

Minus your halfbacks, Pete?

What's wrong with the halfbacks?

Not many better 9's in the league than TOL.

Admittedly the FH could be improved but they are hardly bad players.

Depends on whether he will make a move from Fosters to Guiness. Large Lout to Stout !!!

15. Halfpenny
14. Cuthbert
13. O Williams
12. Allen
11. O'Connor
10. Patchell
9. L Williams

Dont think he would fit in with that backline actually.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:15. Ojo
14. Yarde
13. O'Connor
12. Sheridan
11. Tagicakibau
10. Humphreys/Geraghty
9. O'Leary

is going to be one hell of a backline!

      

Minus your halfbacks, Pete?

No problem with the halfbacks. We know iHumph can blow hot and cold, but certainly Geraghty has looked good when he's played this season. I think that backline may be wishful thinking though, and we are more likely to see him in the 15 jersey, which is no problem, we can just shift Topsy to the wing and move Losi in to 13!


 COME ON YOU IRISH!!!!  

"Yeah, mite.  I'm goin' to one of them European plyces in England.  I think it's outside Manchester.  I have it here it's called  Per... Pert Pig.. Perpigonan...or one of another Welsh sounding Lord of the Rings type nymes.  Anyway, that's where I'm heading.  Landing in Dublin and I'll be picked up there."

Let's face it, O'Connor doesn't have a clue where he's going...but it's somewhere where's it's going into winter.

I'd have though JOC would want to play 10 or 12 rather than in the outside backs. Can't see LI signing up another winger/fullback when they have such good options in the back three already.

Come on lads, his new club is bound to be Toulon.

Irish fans seem pretty convinced he is joining them

he is. he will debut v Northampton Saints next week.

stnick88 wrote:he is. he will debut v Northampton Saints next week.

Boom! You can't doubt that amount of conviction!

Where has that come from Stnick? How on earth did you get the nod over French teams? There must be a link with a coach or something?

Brian Smith !!!!

 Will be arriving at Sunbury on Monday!  

I predict that the pubs around Sunbury will have tripled profits for the year by the end of next week - sixth sense

stnick88 wrote:What's wrong with the halfbacks?

Not many better 9's in the league than TOL.

Admittedly the FH could be improved but they are hardly bad players.

Are we in comedy hour?

Well As, depends what figure you attribute to "many". He's certainly in the top 20 scrum halfs in the league.

TOL is decent enough. He has for the most part been playing well so far this season.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Well As, depends what figure you attribute to "many". He's certainly in the top 20 scrum halfs in the league.

 

looks like Jampes O'Connor is a grab the bull by the horns kind of guy...or rather grab the lion by the balls...

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131028&t=2&i=806729948&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE99R0VR200

"Australia Wallabies' James O'Connor (top C) moves in on British and Irish Lions' Jonathan Davies (bottom C) during their third and final rugby union test match at ANZ stadium in Sydney, July 6, 2013."

quinsforever wrote:looks like Jampes O'Connor is a grab the bull by the horns kind of guy...or rather grab the lion by the balls...

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131028&t=2&i=806729948&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE99R0VR200

"Australia Wallabies' James O'Connor (top C) moves in on British and Irish Lions' Jonathan Davies (bottom C) during their third and final rugby union test match at ANZ stadium in Sydney, July 6, 2013."

 

Ozzy, I must confess that I hadn't been following the JOC story and thought that you were kidding about him coming to Irish.
 
But nope. It's going to be announced on Tuesday morning:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/james-oconnor-set-to-announce-deal-to-play-for-london-irish-20131028-2walg.html

George Carlin wrote:Ozzy, I must confess that I hadn't been following the JOC story and thought that you were kidding about him coming to Irish.
 
But nope. It's going to be announced on Tuesday morning:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/james-oconnor-set-to-announce-deal-to-play-for-london-irish-20131028-2walg.html

Don't see the need to wait till tomorrow. Every man and his dog seems to know O Connor is going to London Irish.

Presumably they are going to wait until he's available to pose in a LI shirt before announcing the signing.

Meh, we've already played Irish and hopefully hit our nadir and are now on the rebound, I hope he helps Irish take some current top 5 scalps

My understanding is that he is at Sunbury at the moment. What a great bit of business by Smiffy. Can't wait to see him in the green jersey.

Despite all the early celebrations getting him in is a big gamble. We all know how he can play its a question of what version you are going to get. I do hope the gamble pays off.

JOC says he's London bound to play some rugby. It can't be LI then, they play in Reading...

                      

So it's official, could be a strike of genius or madness by LI, if they can keep JOC off the sauce and under a curfew then he could be a great signing. If not.....

I'd say genius rather than madness, at the very worst it will be great for the young guns to learn off a 50 cap player and at best he will be a real match winner.

I do however wonder if Irish had enough in the cap to offer JOC even a short contract, why didn't they sign another gnarly front 5 player who maybe wouldn't create as many headlines but could be more useful long term. Of course, maybe they tried!

How has Sheridan been playing at 12 for LI so far? I remember him being promising during his time in the leinster academy but had some unfortunate injury set backs.

Could JOC be placed in the 10 jersey? I would have thought he would be a good upgrade over iHumph or geraghty.

They'll be signing Phillips next!

Bathman_in_London wrote:I'd say genius rather than madness, at the very worst it will be great for the young guns to learn off a 50 cap player and at best he will be a real match winner.

I do however wonder if Irish had enough in the cap to offer JOC even a short contract, why didn't they sign another gnarly front 5 player who maybe wouldn't create as many headlines but could be more useful long term. Of course, maybe they tried!

Watch this space!  

thebandwagonsociety wrote:How has Sheridan been playing at 12 for LI so far? I remember him being promising during his time in the leinster academy but had some unfortunate injury set backs.

Could JOC be placed in the 10 jersey? I would have thought he would be a good upgrade over iHumph or geraghty.

Sheridan has been our player of the season so far. Not flashy, but mightily effective, both in attack and defence.

Ozzy3213 wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:How has Sheridan been playing at 12 for LI so far? I remember him being promising during his time in the leinster academy but had some unfortunate injury set backs.

Could JOC be placed in the 10 jersey? I would have thought he would be a good upgrade over iHumph or geraghty.

Sheridan has been our player of the season so far.  Not flashy, but mightily effective, both in attack and defence.

Good stuff. When can we have him back?

2025

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:How has Sheridan been playing at 12 for LI so far? I remember him being promising during his time in the leinster academy but had some unfortunate injury set backs.

Could JOC be placed in the 10 jersey? I would have thought he would be a good upgrade over iHumph or geraghty.

Sheridan has been our player of the season so far.  Not flashy, but mightily effective, both in attack and defence.

Good stuff. When can we have him back?

I beleive he is English qualified having been born in Birmingham, so I am going with never!  

Ozzy3213 wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:How has Sheridan been playing at 12 for LI so far? I remember him being promising during his time in the leinster academy but had some unfortunate injury set backs.

Could JOC be placed in the 10 jersey? I would have thought he would be a good upgrade over iHumph or geraghty.

Sheridan has been our player of the season so far.  Not flashy, but mightily effective, both in attack and defence.

Good stuff. When can we have him back?

I beleive he is English qualified having been born in Birmingham, so I am going with never!  

Did he not sign for 3 years or so?

I think it may have been a 2 year contract, but not 100% on that.

Ozzy3213 wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:I'd say genius rather than madness, at the very worst it will be great for the young guns to learn off a 50 cap player and at best he will be a real match winner.

I do however wonder if Irish had enough in the cap to offer JOC even a short contract, why didn't they sign another gnarly front 5 player who maybe wouldn't create as many headlines but could be more useful long term. Of course, maybe they tried!

Watch this space!  

I will look forward to hearing about it! Are Irish the new Toulon...?!

Ozzy3213 wrote:I think it may have been a 2 year contract, but not 100% on that.  

By the sounds of it, it will be extended at the end of this season for another year or 2.

He was just about to make the leap to senior side at Leinster (he was around the main squad the same as Macken) but did his knee in a pre-season game against Saints in Dublin and just never got the same chance again after that.  And he wasn't the midget back that Leinster usually produce, there was a bit of size there. He was unfortunate to have Darcy & BOD as top choice and McFadden and O'Malley as the backups so he was trying to be 5-6th choice option with Macken.  Since then the first two have aged more, McF has become a wing option and EOM has retired early through injury.

There is a decent crop of Leinster backline players that other teams have benefited from (due to Leinster having too much depth in across the line up until this year).

Ozzy3213 wrote:He's coming to Irish gents.  

Not surprised it was a London club. He will feel really at home there.

Bathman_in_London wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:I'd say genius rather than madness, at the very worst it will be great for the young guns to learn off a 50 cap player and at best he will be a real match winner.

I do however wonder if Irish had enough in the cap to offer JOC even a short contract, why didn't they sign another gnarly front 5 player who maybe wouldn't create as many headlines but could be more useful long term. Of course, maybe they tried!

Watch this space!  

I will look forward to hearing about it! Are Irish the new Toulon...?!

We're a sizable amount of the current Toulon as well!

GunsGerms wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:He's coming to Irish gents.  

Not surprised it was a London club. He will feel really at home there.

His agent actually asked if he wanted to go to a London Club. He thought they meant Ministry of Sound or Fabric so he said yes