James O'Connor took a few moments in the middle of Perth Stadium to realise how far he had come after the Wallabies' record win against the All Blacks.

Key points: James O'Connor was a rugby prodigy who debuted for the Wallabies at 18

James O'Connor was a rugby prodigy who debuted for the Wallabies at 18 He played for three Australian Super Rugby clubs before running off the rails

He played for three Australian Super Rugby clubs before running off the rails After mental health and drug problems, he is back to the top of his game

"What a special moment for me," he said after the victory.

"To do it where it all started in Perth where I was at my most powerful, it is so special,"

He stood there with the look of a man finally comfortable with his place in the world, compared to the one who left Australia a broken person.

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His return to the Wallabies' starting line-up for the first time in six years punctuated a journey that had seen him exiled from Australian rugby and battling issues with drugs and alcohol.

O'Connor is now back performing at the highest level, but for a long time, the now 29-year-old admitted he wanted to quit the sport.

"I left Australia to go play overseas. It wasn't just for rugby. It was just for me to get away," he said during an interview with UK based health and wellbeing organisation Saviour World, a group he credits with helping turn his life around.

"I didn't know who I was anymore. I lost my whole identity; my whole identity was just rugby."

A prodigy who fell from grace

O'Connor's early playing career in Australia had been marred by off-field incidents.

He was the youngest player to debut in Super Rugby at the age of 17, while at the Western Force in 2008.

He played his first match for the Wallabies that year and was seen by many as a once-in-a-generation talent.

But after moving to the Melbourne Rebels in 2012 things started to unravel following continued ill-discipline off the field.

James O'Connor had a short stint playing for the Queensland Reds before heading to Europe, where he was arrested for cocaine. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

The Rebels didn't offer him a new contract, and what was then the ARU withdrew the top-up component of his deal.

He played for Toulon in France before returning for a short stint with the Queensland Reds in 2015.

After not being selected for the 2015 World Cup he went back to Toulon, but found himself in trouble again after being arrested in Paris in 2017 for cocaine use.

The spiral deepens

The French club didn't renew his contract.

"Looking back on it, it was a cry for help for sure and because people started saying I was like this, I was like, 'alright if that is how you want me to be then I will be this in an extreme version'," O'Connor recalled.

"I pretended I didn't care about anything, I lost interest, I was rebelling against it and made some terrible decisions.

"Nights out, I started drinking a lot more, doing stuff like that — I just started spiralling.

"It wasn't just going out on the weekend to have fun, it was like going out go get numb.

"And then it would come into the week as well, and then my only escape from that lifestyle, the only thing keeping me sane, was rugby."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 33 seconds 1 m 33 s James O'Connor opens up about his depression

Then during some of the lowest points of his life, O'Connor started to hate the sport that had given him everything.

"I couldn't even play rugby the way I wanted to because I started getting injured," he said.

"I couldn't express myself, I couldn't communicate well enough to be able to talk to some of the players in the team and the coaches to be able to get my side across. Even rugby became negative for me.

"All I wanted to do was sleep. If I wasn't at training I would be sleeping or at home watching TV — I was just so tired all the time, just so tired.

"I was hiding from the world almost. I hated my existence so much.

"You almost become ashamed of it as well. It is like: 'Why do I feel like this? I have got a great life, I have a nice car, I have got a nice house, I have got a beautiful girlfriend, I have got a tight family, I have got all these things', but if you don't feel right [inside] none of it matters."

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O'Connor also revealed the issues he had with prescription drugs he was taking during his rehabilitation from injury.

"I think you start tricking yourself. At first you are taking it for your body and then it is like your mind is so strong, and then after a while you become reliant on this," he explained.

"For me to get through the week of rugby, because I was injured, I thought I had to take these pain killers, anti-inflammatories.

"You are not sleeping well so you start taking a sleeping tablet and by the end of it you are taking a cocktail of everything and you're never like in your normal present state — you are always dulled, you are always in a deficit."

A World Cup brought O'Connor back

During a spell with English Premiership club Sale Sharks, O'Connor discovered a renewed focus on what he wanted to achieve from the rest of his career — to play at a second World Cup with the Wallabies.

To get there, he has cut alcohol, introduced mindfulness and breathing techniques to his regime, and he keeps to a strict diet that includes intermittent fasting.

His work with Saviour World also encouraged him to embrace activities like building Lego in his down time to help with relaxation.

He has also made an effort to get outdoors, with nature trips to places like Iceland helping O'Connor escape the daily pressures of elite sport.

He signed a two-year deal with the Queensland Reds and Rugby Australia last month under what was understood to be strict behavioural clauses and made a quick ascension back to the national squad, starring in last weekend's Bledisloe triumph in Perth.

James O'Connor breaks away from two All Blacks during the Bledisloe Cup win at Perth Stadium. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

It is now the third time O'Connor has returned to Australian rugby, and so far he has not put a foot wrong.

It seems only injury will keep him from realising his dream of being back at a World Cup, which begins in Japan next month.