This week I was fortunate enough to catch up with Reds (and Wallabies) fly-half James O’Connor. We had a great chat about a number of things, including where the Reds at and even his reflections on last years Wallabies spring tour.
It was good to catch up in person this time around. (Our last interview was done via Zoom, due to the player bubble.) James seemed relaxed and yet ready for action against the Rebels this Friday!
Hey James, great to catch up with you today! The last time we caught up for an interview was back in August 2020, using Zoom. A lot’s happened since then!
The Super Rugby Pacifica season has been great for the Reds, I’ve really enjoyed watching every game. What have been some of your highlights this season?
Highlights this season… I’d say two games. One was round two against the Waratahs, I felt they came out firing. They’re a good pack and they were very physical that match. We probably weren’t at our best and we lost I think two to the sin bin, one yellow card and possibly one red card. It was a wet, messy night and the team just found a way to win. It was a great showing of how tight were are as a group, not having any territory and possession, we still got the job done. That was a highlight…
And then, last round, beating the Brumbies down at home. It was good to knock the Brumbies off.
The Brumbies game at Suncorp was one of my highlights as well! What was the teams main focus heading into and during that game?
I’d say the main focus was the Brumbies cos we played them two week earlier, cos we felt we had their measure. So our main focus was making sure we stopped their set-piece, their line-out maul, their scrum plays etcetera, stop their momentum and then it was just us playing our game, early on. So we had the ball rolling, worked through some phases and we got to see some good rugby.
What have been some of the big lessons you’ve learnt during this season?
Biggest lessons I’ve learnt this season… probably that you don’t have to have the ball to win the game. We’ve relied a lot on our defence this year, turning teams around, fatiguing them, which is a new tactic for the Reds. Normally we try to hold the ball a lot longer, because our phase attack shape is probably one of the best in the comp. But this year we’ve turned teams around early and starved them of positive areas of the field, which has been a big area of learning for me.
I also haven’t had a chance to ask you about the Wallabies tour last year. How would you describe your overall experience travelling through Europe?
It was a tough tour. There were quite a few new combinations… we brought a lot of players back from Europe like big Willy Skelton, Izaac Rodda had just come back, Rory Arnold and Tolu Latu… it was awesome to have all the boys come back and it was just us finding our flow again… I felt that unfortunately it was the last game it took to sort of get our combinations really firing. We ended the game on a positive note which will be good for this year.
How do you unwind and relax after a big game?
Hmmm. Plenty of different things to do. A lot of the guys like to go out for a beer and enjoy each others company, I’m more one to just get home now.. maybe having a little cheat meal whatever that may be, a bit of sushi, a burger or something, maybe every now and again I’ll crack open a nice glass of whiskey, but it’s more so the next day… I’ll have a bit of a sleep-in, get into the water and head down to the coast or head down to the rain forest with my Mrs and the dog.
This Friday the Reds are playing the Rebels, in Melbourne. The following week, you’re playing the Hurricanes for Super round! I can’t wait! I’ll be there for the Super round game. What has the team been working on the most during training, looking to the next few away games?
Every week you work on something new, depending on who your playing. So you’ve got your own game plan, then you tweek it up depending on the opposition. This week we have the Rebels, they play a particular way, they have a lot of line speed, a lot of physicality, they don’t like to play with the ball in their own half, so there may be a few more kicks than usual. And moving on to the kiwi teams, it’ll be a whole different task. We take it one week at a time. Yeah that week will be cool (Super round.)
I’m really looking forward to that trip! I’ll be there with a bunch of the Reds members.
Super round’s gonna be great! We’re all looking forward to that one.
As always, thanks for taking time out to chat today. All the best this week against the Rebels!
Thanks brother. Good to chat to you again. Look forward to seeing you at Super round!
The Reds are playing the Melbourne Rebels this Friday, kicking off at 7:45pm.
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