EVERY PLAYER CRAVES a big moment early on in a game. That feeling must be magnified when you’re in your first match after being appointed the new captain of your country.
Maybe players get that honour partly because they’re good at avoiding the temptation to chase things, but O’Mahony got a big moment early on at Stade Vélodrome in his first game after being named as Johnny Sexton’s successor.
With Ireland having taken a 3-0 lead, the French are on the attack in the eighth minute when O’Mahony identifies danger, begins to fold from left to right, reacts to tackle Charles Ollivon as the French flanker snipes, stays on his feet, and immediately reloads onto the ball for the poach.
O’Mahony snaps into a strong position but still has to survive the aggressive clearout attempt of France lock Paul Gabrillagues, as well as his fellow second row Paul Willemse arriving in behind.
O’Mahony absorbs the French effort doggedly and emerges with a crucial turnover penalty for his Ireland team.
It’s the kind of big breakdown play that O’Mahony has specialised in during his Ireland career, a moment of leadership by example.
This turnover was the most eye-catching part of a good performance from O’Mahony as he started his tenure as Ireland’s captain. As usual, lots of his best work didn’t make the highlights reels.
O’Mahony is always an important part of Ireland’s lineouts and he had three takes on the Irish throw as they delivered a 100% return. In the example below, O’Mahony does well to reel the ball in at full stretch as Dan Sheehan’s throw nearly clears him.
O’Mahony first has to reach and make contact with the ball one-handed to get maximum height, then grabs it in two-handed as he starts coming back to ground to set up a maul. Ireland’s opening three points come at the end of his passage of attack.
The Ireland skipper would have been frustrated to give up a penalty on lineout defence for contact with a French jumper in the air in the first half, while he was later yellow carded for collapsing a maul as les Bleus threatened the Irish line.
O’Mahony isn’t usually a prominent ball-carrier for Ireland and that was the case against France as he made three carries, the fewest of any Irish forward, as well as one pass. On the other side of the ball, the 34-year-old made nine tackles.
His sin-bin period was an obvious frustration and as has tended to be the case in recent times with Ireland, O’Mahony was replaced in the second half, allowing Ryan Baird to impact from the bench.
While he didn’t debate his yellow card, O’Mahony’s comfort in dealing with referees was obvious in other instances as he engaged with Karl Dickson, even if there was one humorous slip in his language caught over the ref mic.
“We’re trying to practice to not f**king take that extra bit,” said O’Mahony as he queried Dickson’s decision to call the ball as held up when Ireland were doing their best to recycle it close to the French tryline.
“We’ll endeavour to get that ball back as quick as we can, right?”
The final result for Ireland in Marseille was a brilliant one and O’Mahony would certainly have hoped to get a chance to go again as skipper in the second round clash with Italy but it wasn’t to be.
He picked up a knock in the French game and sat out the 36-0 win over the Italians as a result. His influence remained central during the build-up but it was Caelan Doris who captained, having also taken over from O’Mahony when he went off in Marseille.
So it’s obvious that O’Mahony will be raring to get back out there tomorrow at the Aviva Stadium as skipper when Ireland host Wales in the third step of their quest to retain the Grand Slam.
These are still early days in his role as Ireland captain but head coach Andy Farrell is happy with the Munster man’s efforts.
“He’s been great,” says Farrell. “We asked the question after the French game, who was nervous and how were you feeling as a group, and quite a few of them put their hands up and were nice and honest, and Peter was one of those.
“It was a big occasion for him. He’s normally very nervous no matter what anyway. He’s always on the edge as far as that’s concerned, that’s what makes him feel right.
“But as far as getting across running the week and what that entails at this level, he’s been growing week on week and he’s been fantastic this week in that regard.”
The fact that Doris is so clearly being encouraged to take on more leadership responsibility, possibly even to his own surprise, strengthens the sense among some Irish fans that O’Mahony will be Ireland’s captain for the short-term.
As soon as he was appointed, there was talk of O’Mahony taking the role only in the wake of Sexton’s departure before handing the mantle onto someone younger before long.
But Farrell insists he hasn’t made any such decision or put a specific timeline on this. O’Mahony may be coming off his IRFU central contract at the end of the season but with Munster now offering him a provincial deal, he looks highly likely to stay in Irish rugby.
Johnny Sexton took on the Irish captaincy at the age of 34 and kept it for four years, so who knows what’s in store for O’Mahony. It might seem unlikely that he emulates Sexton given the attritional nature of his play, but Farrell says he won’t be rushing to move on.
“I discuss it with all the players all the time in general in a forum like this with all of the players in front of me,” says Farrell when asked how long O’Mahony could captain Ireland for.
“It’s just down to form, isn’t it? It’s just down to form and fight and want and whether you’re able to do that. I keep open-minded as far as that’s concerned.”
These Ireland players are good at living in the present and O’Mahony is one of the leaders by example in that regard.
Yet he must also be thinking that he is now into the most interesting and enjoyable chapter of his already superb career. Some people have already decided he won’t be Ireland captain for too long but O’Mahony has proven his doubters wrong before.
- This article was updated at 8.04am to correct ‘Stade de France’ to ‘Stade Vélodrome’ in the second paragraph. The article was updated at 9.35am to correct ‘rugby’ to ‘right’ in the third paragraph.
