THE WEEK BEFORE a World Cup kicks off is an exciting time for all of us.
Imagine you were preparing to play in the tournament for the first time.
After all the video analysis, weight sessions, photo shoots and every other duty that comes with the run-up to this occasion, Peter O’Mahony says he cannot wait to get down to business this weekend.
You tend to believe him.
“Ah look, it’s World Cup now, it’s World Cup week,” the Munster man said at Carton House this afternoon.
“(It’s) my first World Cup, I’m just massively excited to get on the plane, get over there and get stuck in on Saturday.
“We’ve a huge test against us at the weekend against Canada. We’ve been hugely focused on the Canadian team over the last couple of days and doing our homework on them and preparing ourselves as best we can for Saturday.”
He continued: “Obviously, it’s hugely exciting. It’s one of my first World Cups and hopefully it’s going to be a great experience. I’m hugely looking forward to it.”
Joe Schmidt will name his side for the game on Thursday, perhaps with one eye on later games. But O’Mahony insists every player in camp in Co Kildare wants a jersey on Saturday.
“I think as a player, it’s in our nature that you want to play and start games. You want to get as much game time as possible and do as well as we can for our team and for our country,” he says. “I don’t think there’s anyone in our 31-man squad who doesn’t want to start on Saturday.”
The last tournament was played out half a world away in New Zealand, of course, and the next will be won against the neon backdrop of Japan.
This month however will feel like a home tournament for the Irish squad with supporters making the short hop to Cardiff and London to pack out familiar stadiums like the Millennium.
“Obviously it’s close,” says O’Mahony, “and the Irish support is some of the best in the world, so you’d imagine a lot will travel. Hopefully we can put in a performance that pays a bit back to all the effort they make coming over on Six Nations weekends and for the World Cup now.”
