Australia’s O’Connor on latest of ‘five rugby lives’ at Tigers

James O’Connor is the master of rugby union reinvention.

By the 35-year-old’s own count, Leicester Tigers are getting version number “five or six” of the one-time Australian boy wonder, who went rogue before rebuilding his career to find rugby redemption.

“I never thought I’d come back to the UK to play rugby,” O’Connor admitted while speaking to BBC Radio Leicester.

“When I thought about the options I had on the table and where my footy was going, this is the one that excited me the most – to come back here and give my best to English rugby, which I felt like hadn’t been done.”

O’Connor, who was seen as a “once-in-a-generation talent” when he broke through to make his debut for Australia at the age of 18, has had two previous spells in England’s top-flight competition.

The first was with London Irish in 2013 – a point in his career where he was effectively exiled to play in Europe after a string of off-field incidents had prompted the Australian Rugby Union to terminate his contract.

He then bounced between the Queensland Reds and French club Toulon before another stint in the Prem with Sale Sharks.

And after that he returned home to Australia (again) to try to reclaim his Wallabies spot – something he did after five years in the international wilderness.

“I’ve had about five different lives in rugby,” O’Connor said.

“I’ve been written off many times, and I’ve had to reinvent myself many times.

“London Irish was probably the start of my second. I was quite young, and possibly rugby wasn’t the first thing on my mind, and when I was at Sale, I was in a sort of rebuild period, rebuilding my body.

“I only really played probably 15 to 20 games in those two seasons because I’ve had quite a few injuries, so I never really got to give my best.

That chance return to England by joining the competition’s most successful club was a coincidental one.

After three years without an international cap, his form with New Zealand Super Rugby side Crusaders had him back in the Australia squad for the British and Irish Lions’ summer tour.

And it was during talks about a Wallabies recall with national team boss Joe Schmidt that his assistant Geoff Parling was named as head coach of Leicester – a club where he won two Premiership titles as a player.

“I had some frank and open conversations with Geoff about where I was going in my life and what I wanted, and where he was planning on taking the team and what he was looking for,” O’Connor said.

“It’s a good group of lads here going in the right direction. There’s a lot of young energy, so apparently they can use a bit of an old head to be around.

“I had a lot of people who helped me along in my journey, and one thing I want to do is help the young guys not make the same mistakes I did, both on and off the field.”

It is O’Connor in his latest iteration as an elder rugby statesman that Leicester have signed.

He went from being a former international to starting fly-half for Australia in the Rugby Championship.

He featured in all six rounds, started in three Tests, and even put his new start with Tigers on hold to get back home to face New Zealand twice in the past two weeks.

He had initially landed in England in mid-September to set up his new house with his wife and pet dog.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said.

Finally, he is preparing for his Leicester debut.

And it is one that he admits comes with an unavoidable feeling of “hate” as Tigers take on bitter East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.