@drew_mitchell: Good read, but you dont speak French mate 😂 @JamesOConnor832 “@FOXRugbyLive:O’Connor:Taste of France left me hungry t.co/SAkZVSzmkD” New Reds signing James OConnor at Ballymore. Source: Richard Waugh / News Corp Australia There is more to the James O’Connor brand than the confident, sometimes controversial whizkid banished from Australia almost 18 months ago. The Reds have in the armoury a well-travelled, French speaking attacker they hope will mature into a backline weapon at Ballymore. Your Australian Schoolboys outfit of 2007 was the first to beat their New Zealand counterparts in a decade. With Rob Horne, Joe Tomane, Ben Tapuai, Matt Toomua, Luke Morahan, James Slipper, Aidan Toua, Jake Schatz and Luke Morahan involved, just how special was it? A lot of those guys kicked on to Super Rugby. It’s harder to think of blokes who haven’t kicked on. We thought we had a decent team at the time, but to see everyone take the next step was awesome. We grew up together. Is there still time for you to become the pin-up boy for Australian rugby? It depends on what you want. My priorities have changed. Things come from playing well but my goals are to enjoy my life. There’s a lot I want to achieve in rugby.The first thing you see when you walk in (to the dressingroom) is the 100 caps board. All the greats are there: Ben Tune, Chris Latham, (Elton) Flatley, (John) Eales, (Daniel) Herbert. And the guys who are there now like Will, Quade and Horwill. To get my name up there gets my heart going. How’s your French? Not bad. I studied for seven months before I went. Then over there I spoke it a bit. I’m not hugely confident, I can write it but it’s like I’m a child. Any noteworthy stuff-ups? Not that I can mention in a family paper. If you say duck (in French) there’s another similar word and if you say O instead of an A, it doesn’t go down too well. One of my favourite dishes is the duck steak, but if you pronounce it wrong it means a completely different thing. New Reds signing James OConnor at Ballymore.Source: News Corp Australia What will you miss about France? I loved the cuisine, and their easygoing ways. If you go to the south of France and want to live like you do in Australia, you’ll only last a month. I’m pretty open and wanted the full experience and dived straight in. They’re very relaxed. It could be a one-way street and some one will pull over and want to have a chat. Things don’t run on time. As much as the training sessions are only an hour, everyone wants to hang around and talk about how you’re doing. They’re very genuine. Are the players easily recognised there? In Toulon, yes ... (It’s) the most passionate place I’ve played. Stade Mayol only holds 20,000 but it’s ridiculous. As soon as the crowd feels you’ve won the game they throw newspapers in the air. In one game they threw it up before halftime, I thought that was a big call. I couldn’t speak more highly of the place. Is the French flair overstated? In every team there’s a couple of players who can do ridiculous things. In France, when you’re on a roll there’s nothing holding you back. You try things you might only try once or twice a season. Little passes, little kicks, little no-lookers. When you (play) at home it’s completely different. You feel invincible and flair comes out. A lot of the really ridiculous stuff is tried by foreigners. They also talk about front-rowers as rock stars over there. Is that for real? They are. The biggest big dogs in our team were Carl (Heyman) and Bakkies (Botha). If you can dominate by the time winter comes, if you have a good scrum it makes a huge difference. You rely on forwards in Super Rugby but over there the set piece … half the training sessions are set pieces. They love the big boys. You played with Heyman, Botha, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Martin Castrogiovanni, Frederic Michalak and Bryan Habana. There must be some cool stories. Everyone avoids rooming with Castrogiovanni. Great bloke but the hygiene’s the worst I’ve seen. There’s a good contingent of larrikins and they all work off each other. (Coach) Bernard Laporte has a big presence. Nothing gets past him but a few of the boys push his boundaries. If I tried the same thing I’d be sitting on the bench for a few weeks. In that team you had South Africans, Kiwis, French, Aussies, Argentinians. How was it not a volatile mix? There were no egos. Each of them have achieved great things during their lives so they’re very happy making the next step. They’re either older, balanced blokes with families or younger guys trying to emulate them. Everyone thrives off each other’s energy. They still group with their own language group. The Frenchies sat at the front of the bus, the Aussies, Kiwis and Saffers at the back and the Spanish speakers somewhere in the middle. There’s no reputations, it’s all about the experience. How did you go watching the Wallabies from there? I’m never a good watcher. I’m hands on. It frustrates me ... to watch a team you’re passionate about, it’s tough. When they’re winning it’s great but when they lose, it’s not a great feeling. So last year would have been hard? I left before the 2013 spring tour so it’s been a tough time to watch. Biding my time was hard. I’d go to Drew’s place and the TV’s on rugby 24-7. That was fun. The Queensland-NSW rivalry’s pretty strong in that household. Did you learn much from any of those blokes? To name one wouldn’t do the number of people I met justice. A lot of the blokes I learnt from, you wouldn’t know them. They have different mindsets. It’s a step back, a little old school.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 21:01:57 +0000
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