WALLABIES COACH MICHAEL Cheika says drug-tainted James O’Connor is a “good lad”, but he needs help after being charged by French police with cocaine possession.

The 26-year-old was busted with former All Black Ali Williams at the weekend after allegedly being found with 2.4 grams (0.08 ounces) of the drug outside a nightclub near the Champs Elysees in Paris.

“It’s disappointing isn’t it, for him,” he told Fox Sports last night, adding that O’Connor was a decent person.

“If he wasn’t he would be away doing other stuff, he wouldn’t be in rugby, in a team sport, having the camaraderie around of being in that.

“There is a good lad in there and I think we just have to leave the footy out of it for a minute and let the guy get the assistance he needs, to get back personally first of all, and then we’ll see about footy.”

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

O’Connor’s French club Toulon has temporarily suspended the former Australian international, who made his Wallabies debut at the age of 18 and has gone on to win 44 caps.

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His run-in with Paris police is not his first off-field digression. He was banned from boarding a plane in Perth after his last Test, against Argentina in 2013, later apologising for the drunken incident which also saw him removed from the airport.