James O’Connor says he’s enjoying this year’s “sped-up” Super Rugby Pacific.

The 34-year-old Wallabies utility back joined the Crusaders from the Reds ahead of the 2024 edition which features law innovations that aim to enhance the flow of the game with reduced stoppages and faster resumptions of play.

O’Connor says 2025 Super Rugby – in which 1,011 points have been scored in the first three rounds at an average of 67.4 points a match – is the fastest rugby he’s experienced.

“Well, you look at how fast everyone is scoring. It’s because they’re speeding the game up,” he said ahead of the Crusaders’ clash with the Reds in Christchurch on Sunday. “There’s more fatigue out there. There’s more ball-a-minute play.

“Even for me as a goal-kicker, I’m still getting my breath and I’m getting the 10-second call to kick the ball.

“So, like, I’m enjoying it, the game’s definitely been sped up. There’s more attacking pictures. I think for the fans as well it’s got to be pretty cool to watch.”

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O’Connor said he approved of administrators’ efforts to make the game more “entertaining”.

“You’re always going to have a balance and I think we’ll find that, but people will want to see attacking footy.

“And there’s still – as you saw on the weekend, a lot of the weekends – the teams that defended better still won. So you have to have a balanced game.”

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O’Connor added that players who couldn’t keep up with the pace were being exposed.

“You’re seeing guys go down if they’re not involved in that same play. So I guess teams that want to slow the game down, they’re not being able to do that.

“And also teams that want to close games out with, like, 10, 15 minutes to go, they’re not being able to do that either. So it’s just making the fight, the contest, so much better.”

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