Wallabies playmaker O’Connor excited by young Lynagh’s move

When Wallabies five-eighth James O’Connor went to watch a young Tom Lynagh play, it never occurred to him he was watching a future Queensland teammate.

Tom Lynagh, son of Michael, playing for Epsom College in England

Wallabies five-eighth James O’Connor admits that when he used to go out to the rugby ground at Richmond, London as a guest of Michael Lynagh to watch his sons play schoolboy football, it never occurred to him he was watching a future Queensland teammate.

It was 2013 and O’Connor was playing for London Irish. Lynagh, who also filled the Wallabies No 10 jersey in his day — basically from when Mark Ella retired from Test rugby following the 1984 Grand Slam through to the 1995 World Cup — lived close by and would often invited him over for a barbecue. On occasions, they would head out to watch the junior rugby together.

Watch every match of the 2020 Tri Nations Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly

They were only boys at the time, Louis then 12, Tom only 10 but in an whimsical turn of fate, O’Connor will now be playing with Tom at the Queensland Reds in 2022 after the now 17-year-old signed this month to play with the team his father graced for a neat 100 games (scoring 1166 points).

It never occurred to O’Connor back then that one day he and young Tom might be playing side-by-side in the Queensland backline — no doubt because even O’Connor wasn’t playing for the Reds in those days. He would begin his first stint with them in 2015, returning to Ballymore a second time in 2019.

“He was a handy player,” O’Connor recalled to The Weekend Australian. “In fact both of them were. You could tell that they were a step ahead of the competition in terms of the way they moved and saw the game and communicated on the field. You can always see when someone ‘has it’. Having a father of that quality, it would have been instilled in them — the kicking game, the running game, the vision et cetera. But at no stage did I think I’d be playing with them.”

More recently, he has been studying young Lynagh’s highlight reel on Instagram and been highly impressed by what he has seen.

“He’s a handy player, moves well, he takes the line on really well and has good feet. I think he is going to fit right in. It seems like he has a great running game and at the Reds we pride ourselves on that, being able to attack and playing what we see. So I think he will be able to run the attack pretty well.”

Some young players work it out for themselves, some seek out a mentor. Certainly O’Connor — who himself sought out tips from great playmakers such as Matt ­Giteau, Jonny Wilkinson and Freddy Michalak — is more than happy to help Lynagh if that is what he wants.

He believes Lynagh has learned his football in the right sequence, growing up in England with the field position game before arriving at Ballymore next August to add another level to his game on the hard Australian grounds.

“Especially for a 10,” O’Connor said. “Over there, the conditions and the way they play the game, focusing on territory and pressure, if you can learn that game as a young five-eighth to then come over at an age when he is adaptable and has good foot turnover speed and can manipulate defenders one-on-one, it could be huge for his game and huge for Australian rugby as well. “We haven’t had an out-and-out 10 in a long time. We’ve got Will Harrison and Noah Lolesio coming through and they are definitely in that mould that they can learn their craft at 10.”

For the moment, however, there is only one person O’Connor wants to see at five-eighth for Australia and that is his good self. He returned to the position after a seven-year break to steer Australia to a 16-16 draw with the All Blacks in Wellington last month but then he injured his knee during Bledisloe II.

Since then Lolesio had a shot at the playmaking role in Sydney before Reece Hodge took over for the win over the All Blacks in Brisbane and the draw against Argentina in Newcastle.

But Australia will be playing its final Test for 2020 next Saturday at Bankwest Stadium and O’Connor yesterday declared himself fully fit and available for selection, having beaten not only his injury but also a foot problem as well.

“I’d like to be playing 10,” he said, noting that the Wallabies had an important training session today at which he needed to perform.

“We normally go 15 on 15. I ran well on Tuesday and trained with the team for part of the session so Saturday will be when I have to take it up to the next level. I feel confident I can get there. And then it all comes down to have Dave and the rest of the team want to play the game. I’ll be doing everything I can to get on that field, that’s for sure.”