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By Iain Payten April 24, 2009 12:00am
TEENAGE Force star James O'Connor will make a decision on his future based on where he'll get the most caps - not the most cash.
So says the 18-year-old's father Warren O'Connor, who says James is weighing up life as a Force playmaker and a Brumbies role player, in terms of which will help him play Tests for the Wallabies.
O'Connor is the No. 1 priority signing for the Force to stem their exodus of Test talent, which began with Matt Giteau and continues today with Drew Mitchell.
The Force have a fight on their hands for O'Connor, who is being chased hard by the Brumbies.
Though there is now extra money freed up in third party sponsors in Perth, Warren O'Connor said that would not matter.
"It comes down to a long-term rugby decision," he said. "What is going to be best for him, as opposed to just a money decision."
The Brumbies are selling the Giteau factor to O'Connor and CEO Andrew Fagan has assured O'Connor he will have the No. 15 jersey in 2010.
"It is a good opportunity for James to be part of the Wallabies set-up regularly," Fagan said.
Warren O'Connor said the choice was being "thrown in at the deep end" as a playmaker with the Force or being groomed in a position elsewhere.
"Robbie Deans is talking about grooming him as the Wallabies 15," he said. "Where would that best happen? Does he go to another franchise? If you are the national coach and you have Giteau at 10 and James at 15 for the Brumbies, do you look at that and say, 'Hey, that's a pretty good combination'?"
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...006067,00.html