WILL CONNORS’ HOUSE in Dublin continues to be a melting pot for the wildly different experiences that professional rugby can offer.
His house-mate and fellow Kildare man, Jimmy O’Brien, has just had the month of his career, making his Ireland debut at the age of 25 and playing in three different positions in three games. He is now firmly in the mix for a place at the World Cup next year.
Connors had his own thunderous rise with Leinster and Ireland in 2020/21 as he won his first nine caps under Andy Farrell. But more recently, the 26-year-old has had to deal with injury issues. His knee has healed and he’s nearly there with his bicep. He hopes to be back playing before Christmas.
Connors only has to look at former house-mate Conor O’Brien and current house-mate Rowan Osborne for a reminder of how severe injuries can be. Both former Leinster players were forced to retire. A hamstring injury meant O’Brien had to hang up his boots, while Osborne was advised to stop playing due to concussion issues after moving to Munster.
“Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the beast,” said Connors at yesterday’s Champions Cup launch in London.
“Injury is such a big part of the game and it’s horrible. But then you have Jimmy and he’s just riding that wave. It’s the most exciting time in your career, your debut, and everything.
“The other two lads, we’ve been meeting Jimmy the whole time, and they’re enjoying seeing Jimmy in such a good place as well. They obviously have their disappointments with the game they love but they’re also strong enough and good enough men that they can enjoy Jimmy’s success.
“Just as much as I’m enjoying Jimmy flying around the place and seeing him become big time, walking down through Dundrum and people are saying, ‘Ah, it’s Jimmy O’Brien!’
“I knew that when Jimmy got his chance, not that he was going to shock people, but I knew he would hit the ground running. Jimmy is horizontal, he’s the most laidback character ever but when it comes to the rugby pitch, he’s just a different animal. He’s a special talent.”
It’s not that long ago that people were saying similar about Connors, who hit such strong form at openside for Leinster and Ireland that he was keeping Josh van der Flier out of those teams at times.
But while Connors has been desperately unlucky, Van der Flier has been largely injury-free in the last couple of seasons and is now the World Rugby player of the year.
“It’s a testament to the work that he does off the pitch,” said Connors. “He’s always pushing himself to work on things.
“Everyone jokes about ‘Oh, he has worked on his carrying’ but he worked on that a lot. He got to enjoy the fruits of it. He is one of the top carriers in world rugby. That’s a credit to him.
“We always work together, the same with Scott Penny, we are always trying to feed off each other, trying to improve. Say Scott’s great over the ball, you are trying to work with him to develop that part of your game. You are always trying to pick the best from each player and build it into your own game.
“It is a motivation, you want to get to that level and you’re constantly trying, everyone wants to be in that jersey. To get there you have to operate at a level just above. It’s going to take time and going to take a lot of practice.”
Connors has worked hard away from the limelight rehabbing his knee issue and then the more recent bicep injury. Early mornings, the “depths of darkness” involved in running Bronco fitness tests, doing his best to contribute to the Leinster team even when he can’t actually train with them.
He has also been working on a Ph.D. focused on the tackle in rugby, a skill at which he is very proficient.
Connors’ undergraduate degree was in Computer Science – involving a thesis that identified athletes’ risk of injury during marathon training – and he’s now trying to use methods from that degree to break down the tackle and figure out preventative methods for concussion.
“A lot of it is the computational element of it, object-detection is what it’s called in the computer vision – trying to take a snapshot of a video and take the objects in it, pick out tackles at the moment,” explained Connors.
“There’s a lot of computer science at the minute, but I’m looking forward to the stage where it starts taking more effect.
“Unfortunately I’m injured at the moment, so I’ve had a little bit of extra time but I’d never let it become a distraction.
“Rugby is number one. Anything that takes away from that, I’ll have to put on the back burner, but it’s working well at the moment.”
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