O’Connor: Move clubs or face the scrapheap
ALAN O’CONNOR’S broad Dublin accent sounds completely out of place as he pulls up a pew in the heart of Belfast and sits down outdoors on a cold, grey January day.
O’Connor, however, is an example of how David Nucifora’s player movement policy can work out. The IRFU’s high performance boss has intimated he wants to see more up and coming players with potential escape the shadows of their provincial homes and take the plunge outside their comfort zone.
Belfast may have its own nuances — different currency, different culture, different politics and so on. But it’s only 90 miles up the M1 from his hometown of Skerries and when an opportunity first arose out of the blue to take the spin up there in 2012, the youngster didn’t hesitate in giving it a go.
Three and a half years later, the 23-year-old second row is still there and part of the fabric of Ulster rugby filling in quite comfortably last month in the injury-enforced absence of Iain Henderson and Dan Tuohy in the victories over Toulouse.
And he was due to go big French game hunting again tomorrow at Oyonnax before a knock suffered against Munster failed to heal as expected and ruled him out of selection in an Ulster side that shows a half-dozen changes from last weekend’s loss, including the bold decision to try and win an away European game with first choice half-backs Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson in reserve on the bench.
Prior to Thursday’s training ground mishap, O’Connor had giggled at the wonder of it all, suggesting he’d be on the rugby scrapheap if he hadn’t taken the punt in crossing the border.
‘I’d probably be playing a bit of Gaelic or something,’ he quipped.
Leinster had taken an early shine to him at underage and then sub-academy level.
However, there was no invitation to upgrade into their first-year academy even though he was part of the Ireland Under 20 World Cup side that finished in fifth place in South Africa.
Some weeks later, though, came a life-changing call from Allen Clarke.
The age-grade IRFU high performance boss was in the process of moving back home to become the Ulster elite player development coach and having been impressed by O’Connor’s efforts on the other side of the equator, he reckoned the lock was worth a call-up to the northern academy.
‘He rang me about two weeks into my holidays and offered me the chance to come up here and I jumped on it. Opportunities don’t come around every day. You have to take them when you can,’ enthused the 6ft 6in forward who has taken the change in scenery in his stride. It doesn’t make a difference (what city you play in). If you want to play rugby you have got to move. You have got to take your chance.
‘I don’t have my family up here but when I was in Dublin I never lived out of the house so I can’t really say what it was like living in Dublin and living in Belfast, but I really enjoy it up here, enjoy the lads. It’s a really good buzz,’ he says.
‘You just take every day as it is. I was never mad about looking into the future, but I got two caps in my first academy year which I wasn’t expecting. I wasn’t expecting to get anywhere near the team for two or three years.’
Clarke, now forwards coach under Les Kiss, insists player movement must become the norm in Irish rugby so all four provinces benefit more productively from the emerging talent out there instead if some of it going to waste.
‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘I often say in England they don’t regard where you are from, whether you are from Bath, Northampton, it’s the fact that you are English. We have got a small pool of players in Irish rugby.
‘There are only four professional sides and we have got to ensure we have open doors and that players have open minds about where they play their rugby,’ he said, adding that academy recruit Dave Shanahan is another Dub who was welcomed onto Ulster’s books.
Having traded blue for white, O’Connor is honoured to be standing up for the Ulstermen and it could lead to an interesting sub-plot in years to come as his younger brother David, a 20-year-old second row, is a firstyear Leinster academy apprentice.
‘My family have always supported me no matter what,’ said O’Connor, ‘but I wonder what will happen if my little brother plays for Leinster and I’m still with Ulster, that will be good craic!’
First things first, though — finishing out this Champions Cup pool with a flourish. O’Connor wasn’t initially part of Les Kiss’s plans this term.
He was away in England, at Bed-December ford with the Ravens, when Ulster’s November opener at Oyonnax was postponed at the eleventh hour.
However, knowing how patience stood him in good stead during his breakthrough year last season, he was ready when the Australian came calling, racking up five appearances since the start of including a major contribution in the seismic win at Toulouse.
‘He has given me my shot. You just want to have a go and see how you get on and when he gives you a chance you can’t let him down, can’t let your team-mates down.
‘He is very big on the togetherness and I really like that. I really feed off that.
‘You have to bide your time. Thing can work out not going your way, like with the suspension (after Glasgow last season), but you have to stay ready in the wings with Ballymena or Ulster A. You have got to give it 100 per cent because if you don’t and you get called up (to the seniors) you will be lost.
‘I was with the Ravens in Bedford last time Ulster were in Oyonnax and too right, Champions Cup is where you want to be.
‘You want to be playing the best level of rugby you can and hopefully we can get the job done and get the win Sunday as Toulouse was great craic.
‘It was some win. I’ll remember that forever.’
‘In England they don’t regard where you’re from’ ‘He is big on togetherness and I really like that’