James O'Donnell was a New Zealand Rugby player who played for the All Blacks in 1884.

Early career

James O'Donnell was born in 1860 in Piltdown, Kilkenny Ireland. James along with his two brothers a sister, all left Ireland to escape their tyrannical father whilst another brother, fled the country after cutting an ear off an English soldier. O'Donnell served in the police force in New Zealand before he became a teacher.
In 1883 he represented Otago (as the Southland Rugby Union was not founded then and would not be until 1887) in all three of the matches.

All Blacks

O'Donnell was picked for the 1884 team to tour Australia but before he even got to Wellington to join the team, he was arrested on a fugitive warrant at Clinton and returned to Invercargill. Local tradespeople who he owed money had taken out the warrant after hearing that O'Donnell was unlikely to return from Australia. However none of the creditors attended the court hearing so he was able to join the team in Wellington as expected. Once on tour O'Donnell played in seven of the nine tour matches, scoring four tries and was regarded as the speediest team member. Tour manager S E Sleigh commented on O'Donnell describing him as "A fast wing forward", a much shorter description then other players.

New South Wales

O'Donnell remained in Australia after the tour (as his creditors had feared). He went on to represent New South Wales in 1884-86,88, which included a match against the 1888 British team. O'Donnell's son J B O'Donnell also played for New South Wales in 1928-29.