James O’Connor’s second World Cup is a jumble of the familiar and unfamiliar.
The familiar is the shape of the tournament, the colour of the jersey and his own innate sense of how to emerge for the Wallabies as a valuable contributor.
The unfamiliar captures almost everything else. Particularly in Japan.
The Japanese have a way of surprising and so it was, counter-intuitively, almost no surprise when O’Connor was thrown a couple of curly questions at a Wallabies press conference.
A Japanese journalist had waited patiently for Michael Cheika to talk about the Reece Hodge case, and then listen to Tevita Kuridrani and O’Connor as they discussed matters rugby.
When Japanese questions were invited, one journalist indicated he had one and, through an interpreter, informed O’Connor he’d been ranked in a Japanese magazine as one of the three best looking players at the Rugby World Cup.
“Are you thinking about becoming a model in the future?” the question ended.
Even in his new state of zen, a stunned O’Connor could only smile and mutter an answer about having too many scars and a poor beard.
“I am flattered, thank you,” O’Connor said.
What about Tevita, someone asked.
“Tevita you are good also,” came the verdict through the interpreter.
It turned out the top three poll was on Japanese TV station Channel Four, and the other two were Beauden Barrett and Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw. And there was no rankings; they were a box trifecta of good looking rugby roosters.
But would you believe that wasn’t the weirdest question fielded on the day in the Wallabies team hotel, which is perched on the edge of the 115-acre Tokyo Disneyland.
That honour went to a journalist who Kuridrani if he liked the “enjoyable toilet technology” in Japan and would he like to buy one for his home.
“Are you talking about the toilets, the bidets?” O’Connor said, admirably stepping in for a flummoxed Kuridrani.
O’Connor admitted he would be sidestepping the toilet tech chat and instead talked up the healing power of the onsen.
A handful of offbeat questions shouldn’t have been an insight into O’Connor after all the raw honesty he has spoken with in recent months, but they were yet more brief moments showing how comfortable the 29-year-old now is in his own skin.
In 2011, O’Connor was one of the Wallabies best in the tournament but said he was “a completely different person back then” and running on instinct; not nearly as self-aware.
His well-known tale of redemption in the years since has been told often but O’Connor is keen to show how far he has come as a footballer, too, in the last few months, after returning to Australia for a shot at playing for the Wallabies.
He said he’d “never worked harder” and was looking forward to testing himself in his first Test back against northern hemisphere rivals.
"I have spent the last five or six years playing over in the UK and in France. I know that northern hemisphere style of rugby. In saying that, though, this is Test rugby so it is a step or two up,” he said.
"But I think personally the gains I have personally made from these last couple of months … are all individually moving forward.
"I just want to open up and have fun and play. And the key word for me is play. Not try to do anything or be anything, just be there in the moment. Just enjoy it.
He watched Wales win the Six Nations earlier this year, and said they’re a very efficient machine.
"They definitely play at the right ends of the field. Their balance is pretty good, they know their game, they know their strengths and they keep away from their weakness. Which there aren’t too many, to be fair,” he said.
"We have a few ideas up our sleeve on how we’re gonna play but you’ll have to wait until Sunday to see them.”
Until then it’s more training and dealing with downtime in their bustling Disneyland hotel, whose foyer is constantly packed full of holidaymakers and well-wishers, keen for photos and autographs.
O’Connor, for one, loves it.
"Anything can be a distraction if you allow it. It is all about your perception and how you’re seeing it. I choose to see it as support. They want to see you do well, and you feed off it,” he said.
"I don’t see that stuff as a distraction any more, it’s all positive. They’re here to support you. You can soak it up.”
