James O'Connor has insisted that he is focussed on kickstarting his career with London Irish in order to earn a place in the Australia squad for the 2015 World Cup.

The fly-half completed a move to the Aviva Premiership outfit on Tuesday that will see him remain at the club until May, having been made a free agent in his home country following numerous off-field problems.

While playing in England jeopardises his current spot in the Australia team, O'Connor says that it is all part of his plan to be firing on all cylinders in two years' time.

"At the moment, I'm here until May and well decide what happens after that," O'Connor said in a press conference. "See how I'm enjoying it and go from there.

"I've only been made aware of [Wallabies head coach Ewen McKenzie's selection policy] recently. I'm not aware of the rules. Right now the best decision has been to come over here. I feel really good about it already. This is something I need to do.

"It's been an amazing ride and every opportunity to pull on that gold jersey has been awesome. But I've been protected quite a lot. I've made mistakes and haven't dealt with them in the way I'd like to. This opportunity gives me the opportunity to become my own man and work on that. It's a good environment to do so."

O'Connor scored 175 points in 21 appearances for his last club, the Melbourne Rebels.