How The Youngest Debutant In Super Rugby DESTROYED His Potential

[@Waywind420]

He played for 6 professional club teams, got to play against the British and Irish Lions, gained 64 international caps, was part of a Wallabies team that was 2nd ranked in the world, got a win over the All Blacks who were perhaps the greatest team ever assembled, played in a world cup, went on overseas tours etc. His absolute career peak is when he scored a try near full time, then kicked the winning conversion to end an 11 match losing streak to New Zealand (I believe) during the Hong Kong game. He was HIM, in that moment. Can't complain about anything, he has had a great career. He was genuinely a world beater at the height of his playing days.

[@PatrickAndrews-e6v]

Exactly. We saw his potential. Even this video is evidence of that. As you alluded to, he pretty much single-handedly dismantled arguably the greatest rugby team of all time in Hong Kong. That game will be talked about in generations to come. A lot of talented rugby players never reached his heights.

[@pierrejoubert7195]

Met him in Cape Town. Very decent and humble guy. Everybody makes mistakes! I wont judge him on that.

[@brianmarshall7214]

@@pierrejoubert7195 That must have been recently. He and Gitau were too arrogant to be team players and helped the Wobblies sink to the depths that they have been for the past six or seven years! It's time for the likes of them to learn humility. They must remember that rugby is just a game.

[@pierrejoubert7195]

@brianmarshall7214 long ago. 2010. Our own captain Kolisi has made big mistakes despite being a decent guy. I'm not in their shoes so I won't pretend the choices they make would have been beneath me. Luckily through a few bad decisions of my own and few curve balls I know beter now.

[@mickdawes1297]

An undeniable talent and a total lost opportunity for Australian Rugby... that wasn't helped by mainstream media persecution and ridicule. After seeing each game of the 2021 Super Rugby season and him falling into the captaincy for the Reds, in my mind he had the potential to be one of Wallabies great captains ... since the likes of John Eales. A natural born leader of young men ... a person that others want to follow. Brad Thorn obviously saw something in him that others didn't!! Also, his combination with Tate McDermott and his on field decisions during that 2021 season reminded me of the Gregan/Larkham days at the Brumbies. Going forward, any team that picks him up on their coaching staff will have an extremely valuable asset with the wisdom of three life times of experience.

[@rustyfeatherstone93]

he sure was lively, boisterous, fierce and above all euphoric

[@Baskerville22]

"Euphoric" is my takeaway from this....

[@deansisqoxv20]

Don’t forget melancholic

[@Scotty123-o3u]

His fall from grace was a long time ago now. How about giving credit for turning his life around and for committing to his home state of Queensland? It’s not easy growing up in the public eye and throughout his career Australian rugby has been a bit of a shambles, so definitely not his fault. I’ll always remember his performances for the Wallabies and wish him well.

[@admiralbenbow5083]

Not his fault...Ah diddums. If you do not take responsibility for your mistakes you are bound to repeat them which is what happened.

[@01gotty]

Read it again chum ...he turned it around yeah , fall from grace all that but he's come full circle and giving back to rugby....you perfect mate?

[@Tonicbrah_]

As a kiwi he was one of my favourite wallabies beside quade cooper

[@Duggytripitier07]

Embarrassing is a little harsh… he’s a fantastic player. The youngest player to ever debut for the Wallabies…. Just think of the pressure and fame he had following him. He has undergone a load of rehabilitation/life courses and has turned his life around but unfortunately it could be too late to start playing top tier rugby again - we’ll see.

[@floodwaters8887]

is he still first choicer for Reds?

[@Boy10Dio]

this lad and quade cooper are my favourite Australian players to date. thought the Ozzie's had a golden generation that would be spearheaded by them two but life never turns out how one thinks it will. greetings from SA

[@effkay3691]

Your favourite Wallabies? You should watch a little more rugby

[@luchiboy]

Only player I remember that was eligible to play for all Tri-nations teams.

[@epeliqatividavetawalu7545]

One of the best rugby players in the world. Love his resilience.

[@glenmale1748]

And he learned rugby at Nudgee college. How could you exclude that???

[@tosgem]

Everyone is responsible for their own actions at the end of the day but I can't help but feel he got chucked under the bus a bit as well. The kid was 17, 18, 19 and getting some pretty "zero tolerance" treatment from Aus clubs and the ARU itself. Given how bright his star shone at such a young age, he had a better platfrom to build an all-time great career from than anyone else. It's sad. I can't help but feel the ARU and Australian rugby clubs were a bit snide with him. They could have been more honest, Michael Cheika included him in these training squads but then he didn't even get a guernsey in the 40 man squad. They never intended to give him a spot, no matter how good he was, and they just strung him along.

[@SweetMana24]

Always got time for James O'Connor. If he still has the passsion to play footy, then good luck to him. Always tough starting out young and thrust against the ABs year in and year out including Super Rugby and Tri Nation's and the Rugby Championship. Not a bad resume compared to lackluster KZbin videos like this. He's part of an elite group of players compared to the strange, cringeworthy interpretation of his career to say the least. Uninspiring and a D+ on journalism skills. Not related to the guy and not from Australia.

[@ecoetzee5291]

As talented as Carter, B Barret, Willemse. Loved watching him play.

[@petefrench4198]

......I don't phuqing think so!!!!

[@lesblase3667]

He's no Dan Carter. But hes still a gun!!

[@garywagner2466]

Too much too soon, without the maturity that should come with success. The sad part of this story is that his immense talent was wasted. Could have been one of the greats, but selfishness threw that opportunity away. Rugby is a team sport, and irritants in the dressing room do more harm than good. A real shame.

[@PocketRugby]

At 4:15 you have talked about his Super Rugby return for the Reds but he was actually playing for Toulon in France - just thought i would let you know

[@coolprof20]

He also showed footage of him playing for Toulon despite him talking about Reds

[@RugbyLegends519]

Thnx! I’ll pay attention to this for my new video 💪🏼

[@goodarnold3307]

Say Euphoric one more time, I dare you.

[@brayds9552]

facts - or boisterous. how can one's season at the sale sharks be "boisterous"?

[@RugbyLegends519]

Hahaha I’ll pay attention to this in my next script 💪🏼

[@buycbdonline]

100% written by chatGPT

[@richardm6985]

😂 spot on I think RLs have understated how many tests he messed up with his decision making and execution which can perhaps best be described as "drug addled"

[@HenriHattar]

O'Connor was absolutely pilloried by Australian Rugby Union , they are like a club and stuck up, O'Connor dared to challenge this and was never again accepted as a prospect. It wasn't O'Coonor but more the establishment.

[@Monaleenian]

Exactly! And look at the state of Rugby Australia now. Perennial losers. Their priorities are all wrong and have been for 15 years.

[@leoleopard7035]

Deserved to get pilloried! Didn't he miss an Aus team announcement photo in 2011ish, because he arrived drunk! and got dropped for memory Showed no respect for the Aussie Jumper

[@dontbeasheeple5883]

Getting caught on the nose beers didn't help him at all eh?

[@HenriHattar]

@@dontbeasheeple5883 If you wanna be a critic do it constructively, the other players and selectors havent excactly given Australia much kudos in the international rugby world for a while have they!

[@dontbeasheeple5883]

@@HenriHattar ok Karen 😂

[@tomrobinson8593]

Fantastic Rugby Player!...In My Book as One of the Worlds Best!

[@championthewonderhorse9733]

I'm all for articulate narration, but your ridiculously excessive use of flowery adjectives is over the top, distracting and often misused. Boistrous (twice!), melancholic (twice!), bittersweet (thrice!), euphoric (thrice!), vengeful, wistfulness, comfortless, tumultuous, radiant, enchanting, heartfelt, heartbreaking, passionate, triumphant, poignant... Put the thesaurus away.

[@garywagner2466]

Agreed. A vain attempt to liven up the subject matter. Did the opposite.

[@katana723]

Hot take but these words are pretty straightforward

[@RugbyLegends519]

Thnx! I appreciate your feedback

[@justinhughes558]

Pretty obviously chatGPT providing the voice over text

[@b.alexanderjohnstone9774]

I was going to stick up for our prose stylist (having my own weakness for purple prose) but halfway through the second ‘euphoric’ sent me to read your message in full and you’re right. This chap is very close to getting it right. He should drop the double adjectives and even better see if can find strong verbs to do some of the work . I hope he takes your criticism in the right spirit because he is doing something that is much more difficult than it looks (writing for the public and a script at that) and he is one easily fixed thing away from nailing it.

[@mjribes]

2:28 I think that's the wrong Lions team logo

[@leesi4966]

O Connor legend!

[@Peaches4328]

at 2:29 you show the wrong Lions logo. The logo you displayed is for the South African club called the Lions and not the British and Irish Lions

[@tinymahuta]

Who cares, the SA lions are better than the B&I Lions anyway.

[@Driver2616]

And then, Peter Stringer took the ball off the tee. From then on James couldn’t cope with life and he has gone into serious decline.

[@grimsby2185]

He was the epitome of euphoric!

[@Sub0x-x40]

aus rugbys attitude towards players like oconner is one of the reasons its so dogshit now

[@rizzmain2232]

Yo who the fuck this guy things is he? There ain't no shame in being the best. The bro still is full of talent. We all get old at some point . Let's change the title.

[@nathanmoore5705]

Who cares.. everyone makes mistakes! He came to australia and smashed it with the qld reds and he’s been playing with them for a while now.. he was out injured most of this season but will hopefully return next season.. the guy is such a good versatile player and can play anywhere in the halves!

[@marksheehan8026]

Well l do remember a number of his controversies about his off field behavior,, Anyway if what was brought out in this vid is true , he certainly was a tenacious little creeter to keep coming back .. Shame he didnt hold it together right from the beginning wow what sort career would have he had .

[@shownuffshownuff9739]

Why skip his 2010/2011 run where he had 3 game winners in big games v NZ & RSA and incredible Super Rugby seasons?

[@Jakescapez]

Bro made this with a thesaurus on hand😂 good video nonetheless

[@errolsiljeur9192]

Euphoric highs...more like chemical highs

[@prac2]

Such a shame. He was better than Foley

[@rayakatsuki9204]

ok, so he’s on good terms with RA can he come back to wallabies now?

[@malfordpulipilya9566]

He was eligible to play for SA U18 before he chose to play for Australia.

[@ChandlerBinge]

Bieber needs to keep his nose clean

[@jboi903]

Thesaurus is the star of this video

[@HenriHattar]

Australia has even been surpassed by Argentina, about time the management of Rugby Austrlis resinged and let a real mamagement team to run them ! Do the players of yesterday think they should just let the status quos remain?

[@MathildaMann]

He seems to be the architect of his own misfortune.

[@jacknewhouse7100]

Drinking game: drink everytime he says ‘euphoric’

[@PjRjHj]

Very talented player, but he was undersized and had an average kicking game with limited range

[@Sub0x-x40]

james 'boisterous' oconner

[@rhyssanders9122]

Bro this video is a mess fix it up

[@timleahy4441]

Used the Emirates lions chrest in RSA as opposed to the actual Lions?????.....

[@whtwht]

Was this done by Chat GPT?

[@willoosthuizen5864]

You mean from fame to shame to fame again?

[@neilcooper9508]

Eny 1 now wot hes doing now by ennychance i remember him quite well neil england👍

[@gregsoul]

Too many clips of the Boks vz Oz.

[@effkay3691]

These rubbish channels are just some muppet reading Wikipedia practically verbatim and showing some photos. Go onto Wikipedia whilst watching and you’ll see. Just blocked another one!

[@albertoberto4714]

Rugby world is so moralistic, he would have done alright in other sport.

[@CaptainKuki]

The bro from Tat Nth

[@Finderskeepers.]

Would Maradona or George Best of achieved their greatness in todays environment of sponsorship power ? Paddy Jackson got hung out to dry even though he got cleared. What sports men do off the pitch influences there opportunities more than on the pitch now thanks to the media and then we wonder why good politicians, one with real life knowledge arnt coming forward from industry.

[@Wolf-hh4rv]

Australian rugby just can’t help themselves, they always take the path of self destruction

[@godisbollocks]

I'm just glad he got rid of that absurd Justin Bieber haircut

[@RDDHopsing77]

I like his "basin cut" the best.

[@johnhealy6676]

Being a professional rugby player or any professional sportsman for that matter must be boring as hell Let’s talk about the meaning of sport as against a business

[@williamorchard16]

The arrogant young pup wanted input to team selection at the Force, so was released

[@georgegraham472]

There are other words in English than boisterous you know.

[@wadesharp11]

That’s Justin beiber😂

[@hrshsln6768]

Justin Bieber. Oh baby baby baby oh.

[@Eatitbiach]

No bigger crime than wasted talent.

[@adrianstalone4204]

Should of stayed playing league rabbit.

[@garyc1384]

Crazy vid, silly use of language, and video clips had no relation to script.

[@chrisnaude2929]

Wasted talent, how sad.

[@Boneyard-l2y]

Tool

[@speeddemon9555]

loose canon !!

[@petejuchau9332]

He loved ironing what’s your problem leave him alone