AFTER FINDING HIMSELF down the pecking order for the previous two games, Tommy O’Donnell admits being dropped fuelled his hunger to regain his starting berth in Joe Schmidt’s team.
The Munster flanker returned to the side for Saturday’s 35-25 victory over Scotland and was part of an explosive back-row which dominated the contest from start to finish.
It was a welcome return to the international stage for O’Donnell after he’d lost his place at openside to Josh van der Flier.
“You always want to be running out onto the pitch and you have to have a competitive attitude but sometimes selection doesn’t go your way,” he said.
“There you have to be the professional and realise it’s a squad came as well so I’m back training hard and it worked well and I was rewarded for it.
“It will always be a position where coaches will argue and spend a lot of time picking but obviously for me it’s just great to get back in and show what I can do.
“You never want to be dropped, but being dropped gives you that little bit more of a hunger. I trained hard and focused on the basics and it paid off.”
Van der Flier’s omission, put down to ‘bumps and bruises’ by Schmidt, came as a surprise after he’d produced imposing performances on his first two appearances in green.
And even O’Donnell revealed he wasn’t exactly expecting the Leinster man to drop out of the matchday squad.
“It was a nice surprise to get the call from Joe considering how well Josh had gone,” the 28-year-old continued. ”You might have thought he was going to keep going with him but he gave me the chance and I was delighted for it.
“He wants me to go out there and show the athleticism and physicality I can bring to a game. Thankfully the game went the way it wanted.”
With competition as intense as it is for places in the backrow, O’Donnell concedes it’s important to justify your selection but he didn’t feel the need to do anything out of the ordinary on his return to the fold.
“You have to concentrate on your fundamentals and when you start chasing the game it’s when you start losing out so I just concentrated on being explosive when I had the ball and cleaning out and in the tackle as well.
“I think I just needed to do my own thing,” he added. “I was selected on merit to do what Tommy O’Donnell does so to do your own thing and go about it and play to your strengths.
“I’m happy enough with how it went. It was a fast-paced game and I’m sure it was very exciting to watch from the stands and obviously the result went the way we wanted so it was a good day all round.”
O’Donnell will return to provincial duty with Munster for the rest of the season and will target the Pro12 run-in to stake his claim for inclusion on Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa.
It remains to be seen whether Rory Best will remain as captain for the three-Test series against the Springboks after the hooker cast doubt over his role following the Six Nations campaign.
Best remained coy about his future when asked in the post-match press conference but O’Donnell believes the Ulster man is the right man for the job going forward.
“I would certainly back Rory to continue as captain, he has always been a natural leader in the squad, ever since I came in,” O’Donnell offered.
“There is a great abundance of leaders in this squad, and yes Paulie was that talismanic leader for a long time, but Rory was always one of the vice-captains chipping in.
“And he’s just stepped up to the main role now, and he’s doing a very good job of it.”
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