Queensland Reds star James O’Connor to miss opening few weeks of Super Rugby Pacific season

James O’Connor’s injury means it’s a battle of three for Queensland’s No.10 jersey for Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific clash with NSW.

James O'Connor will miss the first few weeks of the Super Rugby Pacific season. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Queensland Reds star James O’Connor is set to miss the opening three weeks of the Super Rugby Pacific season with a hamstring injury.

Reds coach Les Kiss said O’Connor had been “flying” in the pre-season before the setback.

It means the veteran of 64 Test appearance won’t play in the Reds’ season-opening battle with arch-rivals NSW on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium, as well at least two more games.

“He’s three weeks away, maybe four,” Kiss said on Monday.

“You don’t like losing people like James. He was flying, he was going extremely well, but I’ve said it from day one, we’ve got four good options (at fly-half) and all the other options are playing well.”

The three players in contention to wear Queensland’s No.10 jersey this weekend are Tom Lynagh, Lawson Creighton and 19-year-old Junior Wallaby Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.

“All the 10s that are there … they don’t get flustered too easily,” Kiss said.

“It’s a competitive position, like other positions are as well. It’s a nice situation to have.

“The whole squad’s got competitive, right across the positions. That’s what I love about the team at the moment.”

James O'Connor has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Kiss said he would have “no reservations” about starting with McLaughlin-Phillips if he considered that to be the best option for the Reds.

“The only way you get experience is to play, and I like my players to play as much as possible,” he said.

“The age of a guy or the experience of a guy is not the major concern. It’s about the collective.

“I do like to make sure that if I put a young guy in, that they’ve got support structures around them and experience in the right positions to support him.”

Kiss, a former Queensland State of Origin rugby league winger, said the interstate rivalry with NSW went “bone deep”.

“It’s in my blood. From day one, I just wanted to put a maroon jersey on. Now I’ve got a chance to wear a maroon jersey in a different way,” he said.

“It is the biggest rivalry in the country … and that’s in any form of sport.

“It goes bone deep and it matters, and if someone comes to your ground, you’ve got to make it personal.

“I know they’ll make it personal. We just expect they’re going to come at us, so from our perspective, it’s important that we represent our jersey well, represent our fans well. and represent the way that we’ve prepared and our game well.

“We need to make sure we’re ready.”