Young James O'Connor living up to his billing

Exactly two years ago I featured a profile video of James OConnor as a youngster who had a bright future ahead of him, but had to make a big choice regarding who he wanted to play for. A couple of years on, and hes now a fully fledged Wallaby who has recently taken up the starting fullback spot in the series against England.

OConnor, incredibly still just 19 years of age, has followed through on the potential he showed with the Force as a 17 year old, and is now keeping guys like Adam Ashley Cooper and Kurtley Beale on the bench. He also became a first choice goal kicked last week, kicking ten points against England in Perth.

Matt Giteau is back this week though, so hell relieve OConnor of the kicking duties which no doubt means less pressure on the electric runner who scored a hatrick when playing for the Australian Barbarians recently.

He was the second youngest player to ever appear for the Wallabies when he made his debut against Italy in 2008, and followed that up with three tries in his first run on start for his country, an Australian first, and the youngest ever scorer of a Test hat-trick.

As mentioned in this new interactive hot-spotting video, if all goes well, we could quite possibly see many more years of OConnor in action as he and the new breed of Wallaby backs terrorise the opposition for many seasons to come.

The video allows you to find out more stats on OConnor while watching. Just mouseover it and youll be prompted when to click to learn more about him. If you dont want to read while watching, just keep your mouse of it.

Its an interesting concept, and Im keen to hear what you think of it. Also, make sure you check out the related links to watch the profile on OConnor from two years ago, and see his first ever Super 14 try, scored for the Force.

Posted at 1:37 pm | 14 comments

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