Ex-Wallabies star James O'Connor breaks his silence about one of the biggest scandals of his colourful career - 'looks like we didn't care'
The drama unfolded following a late-night burger run at Hungry Jack's in Melbourne's CBD back in 2013.
Hours earlier, O'Connor and fellow young gun Kurtley Beale had attended the Melbourne Rebels' clash against the British and Irish Lions.
In hindsight, the pair should have immediately returned to the Wallabies team hotel, but youthful exuberance won out.
Instead, O'Connor and Beale caught up with then-Rebels Super Rugby teammates, and in a flash it was past 3am.
O'Connor - who insists he and Beale didn't touch a drop of alcohol on the night - ducked in for a burger and agreed to a photo with a fan, which was quickly posted on Facebook.
Chaos followed, with the sheepish duo forced to address their teammates.
'We were asked to apologise, but I didn't understand what I was apologising for,' O'Connor told Code Sports.
'(I get it) of course people are going to be pissed off. This is a Lions series, everyone else was bloody asleep.
'It looks like we didn't care....'Our teammates probably thought we'd had some drinks as well.
'I wasn't actually sorry for what I did. So they would have felt that maybe I wasn't actually sorry because I just felt like I was apologising as a token.'
Given the second Test against the Lions in Melbourne was just three days later, it wasn't a good look.
Australia managed to win a thriller 16-15 to force a series decider, but the Lions proved to be too strong in Sydney to collect the silverware.
Coach Robbie Deans was also on borrowed time as a result, with a perception he didn't have control of the playing group.
Now 34, O'Connor - who was no stranger to off-field scandals across his career - can see why he got teammates and fans offside at the time in Melbourne.
A generational talent, O'Connor was playing international rugby aged just 18, and Wallabies fans were licking their lips at the time as fellow rising stars Beale and Quade Cooper left their mark on the team.
But ultimately, Bledisloe Cups and World Cup trophies didn't follow - and O'Connor laments what could have been.
'Looking back, I let the team down quite a few times,' he said.
'I (was young), I didn't even have the emotional awareness to know that what I was doing was hurting the group because it was all just about me.
'When you can take your blinkers off, you can understand the world a little bit more.'
The first Test of the 2025 Lions series is on July 19 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
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