Aviva Premiership
London Irish's O'Connor will play again this season
ESPN Staff
April 16, 2014
James O'Connor will join Toulon this summer © Getty Images
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James O'Connor has not played his last game for London Irish after the club revealed he only suffered a minor hamstring injury in last Sunday's win over Newcastle.

O'Connor limped off 13 minutes before the final whistle and, with a summer move to Toulon looming, Irish feared the Australian would miss the rest of the season.

O'Connor is expected to miss this weekend's trip to Northampton Saints, but director of rugby Brian Smith is hopeful he will be fit for Irish's final matches against Gloucester and Sale.

Smith told the Reading Post: "He won't be right for this weekend, but we've then got a weekend without a game. He might be right for Gloucester [on May 3].

"He will definitely be right for the last game [against Sale on May 10]."

O'Connor has scored 93 points in 13 appearances for Irish since he signed last October. He will play for Toulon for the first three months of the new Top 14 season before returning to Australia in an attempt to break into their squad for the 2015 World Cup.

Smith said: "James has been a terrific signing for the club. It coincided with the announcement of the new ownership and it was probably a declaration of intent by our new owners to say we can attract world-class players.

"It would have been nice for James to spend the next six months with us as well before he heads back to Australia, but you cannot ask someone to turn down the sort of financial incentives to swing via Toulon.

"He has been terrific. He's a very good player and been instrumental in a couple of key wins for us."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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