O’Connor – Wales cap number 656 – earned five caps between 1960-62 having made his debut against South Africa in 1960.
Born on 24 April 1934 in Neath, O’Connor then played against England and Scotland the following year and completed his international career with games against France and Ireland in 1962.
O’Connor was at St Edmund Hall when he gained an Oxford University Blue, partnering Australian international Ross Shiel in the Varsity match of 1958. From Duffryn Grammar School he had moved on to Bristol University before Oxford and played his club rugby with Aberavon, who he skippered in the 1957-58 season.
He played for the combined Neath-Aberavon side against Australia in 1957, South Africa in 1961 and New Zealand in 1963. He toured with the British Lions to South Africa in 1962, playing in 10 matches, but he did not appear in a Test. He worked for ICI, then British Steel Company, living in Porthcawl, where in 2005 he became captain of the famous Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.
