Word comes to us from balls.ie reader Ed Ryan of the curious case of Declan O'Donnell, one of the stars of New Zealand 7's team which conquered all at the recent Hong Kong sevens in May.
Wikipedia tell us
O'Donnell is of mixed Irish-Maori descent. O'Donnell attended Hamilton Boys' High School,[1] where the first match he recalls playing was for Hamilton and against arch rival Kelston High School.[2]He was discovered by New Zealand head coach Gordon Tietjens playing in a local tournament in Te Rapa. Tietjens had tagged him as an "emerging player".
Within weeks of his discovery, he was on the main squad. After the first three legs of his debut season, O'Donnell had already scored 17 tournament tries. His hat-trick in the final of the NZI Sevens made him an instant national hero,[3] and put him jointly as top try scorers for the 2010–11 season along with South Africa's Cecil Afrika and Fiji's Seremaia Burotu.[2]
O'Donnell's play has been described as possessing pace, size, balance and a gravity-defying sidestep;[2] as a club player, O'Donnell had a reputation for playing "hot and cold".[1]
Check out some of his tries at the Hong Kong 7's, Deccie needs to sign him up..
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]One shortcoming though, is his dancing skill or lack thereof, if anything proved he was Irish, it's this video.
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Remember be in with a chance to win a Brian O'Driscoll jersey thanks to Lexus Ireland.
