{"id":183756,"date":"2025-10-07T19:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T19:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/183756\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T19:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T19:09:06","slug":"james-oconnor-returns-keen-to-add-stardust-to-leicesters-attack-leicester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/183756\/","title":{"rendered":"James O\u2019Connor returns keen to add \u2018stardust\u2019 to Leicester\u2019s attack | Leicester"},"content":{"rendered":"

James O\u2019Connor, Leicester\u2019s new Australian recruit, is hoping to bring a touch of sparkle to the East Midlands after finally linking up properly with the Tigers this week. O\u2019Connor\u2019s first spell last month was curtailed when he was swiftly recalled to the Wallabies squad<\/a> to face New Zealand, but he is now back raring to go before his new club\u2019s derby against Northampton on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Having arrived in the UK only on Monday, the 35-year-old played a limited part in his first training session but seems poised to feature in the matchday 23 against the Saints. Leicester\u2019s new director of rugby, Geoff Parling, will not confirm his team until Friday but hinted that O\u2019Connor was in line for some action despite his latest long-haul flight. \u201cHe\u2019s an experienced operator who gets up to speed quickly, put it that way,\u201d Parling said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in business class you can just put your feet up anyway. I don\u2019t think it was too bad for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leicester are clearly hoping O\u2019Connor will help to ignite their attacking game and the player is looking forward to the challenge of replicating the form that led to his Wallaby recall. He said: \u201cI\u2019ve already had good chats about where I can get into the game, especially on starter plays, in phase play and even in counterattack as well where I\u2019ll hopefully get my opportunities to add a little bit of stardust. Hopefully it\u2019s more diamonds than rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor has had two previous stints in the Premiership, with London Irish and Sale, but clearly feels better prepared this time, having rebuilt his stalled career in Manchester. \u201cAt Sale that\u2019s where I started my rebuild and really learning the intricacies of rugby. That\u2019s where my love for it came back. It was a tough period for me with injuries and life away from rugby but I rebuilt my rugby and my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the reason for coming back was I wanted to be the best version of myself. When I was 23 at London Irish I was bright eyed. I didn\u2019t really know too much about the game. It was more about beating defenders one on one. I wasn\u2019t a 10 back then but I feel I am now. I feel quite settled in that position. I\u2019m just looking forward to getting the opportunity to pull the strings and hopefully guide the group around the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parling, who has coached O\u2019Connor in Australia in the past, believes it will be a mutually beneficial marriage. \u201cHe only arrived yesterday morning,\u201d Parling said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t do all of training but he got through a decent chunk. When you\u2019re experienced like he is you\u2019re used to it. You know he\u2019s someone who, off a short run-in, you can get up to speed and someone who will offer ideas around the attacking and strategic side of the game. My experience of him is that he\u2019s really good to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former England lock, meanwhile, believes more research is needed to investigate any potential connection between elite sport and motor neurone disease after his former teammate Lewis Moody\u2019s diagnosis with MND. \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s important for all sports, governments and everybody to research as best they can. Am I qualified to say anything deeper than that? Probably not. But if something\u2019s showing there\u2019s a chance of getting anything like this from intense sport over a period of time then everyone has a responsibility to investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parling, along with many others, has been in touch with Moody since learning the news. \u201cAll you can do at times like this is offer your support and I\u2019m sure the wider community will also get behind him because of the type of person he is. As a player he was like a hungry dog chasing the ball \u2026 he never went away. He was a player who maximised everything he had.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bath have confirmed that Charlie Ewels (knee), Ted Hill (ankle) and Quinn Roux (knee) will be out for several weeks, with Hill and Roux still awaiting specialist verdicts on their injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James O\u2019Connor, Leicester\u2019s new Australian recruit, is hoping to bring a touch of sparkle to the East Midlands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-183756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}