Born in the NSW country town of Nyngan on May 29, 1939 O'Callaghan came to Sydney as a 22 year old and played at Randwick rugby club.
He was originally a centre and fly half, before switching to flanker, where he played the majority of his 68 Club games from 1961 to 1967, playing in the Randwick premiership teams of 1965 and 1966.
Denis was selected to play for NSW in 1963 and won the first of his three caps for the state against the returning 1963 Wallaby team that toured South Africa and two more caps against Queensland in 1966.
He was then selected for the Wallabies’ 31-man touring squad for the 1966/67 side which toured Britain and France, but he did not play in a Test match.
O’Callaghan while never officially capped as a Wallaby, played sixteen non-Test games during the tour which included five Tests and 31 minor tour matches.
In 1968 Denis joined the St George rugby league team but remained involved with rugby going on to coach in Tamworth where his son played for Tamworth Pirates Rugby Club.
NSW Rugby Union on behalf of all Waratahs past and present and the NSW rugby community would like to pass on their condolences to the family and friends of Denis O'Callaghan.
