O’Mahony happy to dive into the ‘Shark tank’ again as Munster aim to better their last visit

As is so often the case when Munster’s need was greatest Peter O’Mahony stepped up and delivered a typically forthright and ultimately inspirational performance, reminiscent of his best days in a red jersey, in the team’s brilliant victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.

Black clouds had hovered over Munster’s two most recent results, an untypically insipid defeat at home to the Glasgow Warriors in the United Rugby Championship (URC) followed by a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final defeat to the Sharks in Durban, a game in which their chances evaporated in a welter of third-quarter mistakes.

It was a far from promising augury ahead of a tilt against the defending URC champions, the Stormers, in their backyard. The South Africans had plenty to play for in their pursuit of second place in the table that would enable a home semi-final if they progressed to that stage of the tournament.

Munster, though, unearthed a hard-nosed, defiant display, in which O’Mahony was in the vanguard but he was surrounded by willing acolytes, foremost among whom was Jean Kleyn, who is having an outstanding season for Graham Rowntree’s squad. Ben Healy was another to make some telling plays upon his introduction.

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O’Mahony was energised by both his role in Ireland’s Grand Slam exploits and chilling out at home with his family in the aftermath. It replenished what had been expended over the previous seven or eight weeks.

Not that he’ll make any bold pronouncements or seek to elevate the importance of his input on his return to Munster colours. “It’s not about coming back to do anything other than what’s expected of you, and what Munster expects of me.

“I’d like to think I don’t change the way I carry on just because I came back after winning a Grand Slam. It was about the process of getting myself back into the Munster lingo, you know, the different calling systems that we have, be it lineout or attack or defence stuff, just getting back to work.

“It is a difficult place to come and play. I haven’t toured here a huge amount. I think ‘18 was the last time I was here, and it was my first time with Munster. You must get stuck in, or you get taught lessons like the Sharks did to us.”

Ancillary concerns to rugby, travel and the heat, are not legitimate excuses in O’Mahony’s eyes. He pointed to the fact that the influx of South African sides into the URC has “been great for the game, great for the competition”.

“For me, these things are just factors that are there for both teams and you’ve got to get on with it. They’re difficult but we’re certainly not going to use them as a crutch to say, ‘we’ve lost a few points because it was hot’.

Munster reached the correct pitch for their meeting with the Stormers, in terms of meeting the physical requirements, setting the right tone from the get-go. O’Mahony said: “Look, it’s part of the game, it’s probably the most difficult one, the emotional bit and the balance of being clear and calm but bringing the edge.

“We certainly got that much-improved last weekend; definitely. I think our accuracy was better, which allowed [us] to do that as well. The accuracy against the Sharks [in the European defeat], certainly in the third quarter, was poor, and it was something that we needed to sort out.

“It certainly was very pleasing that we could be a bit more clinical regarding our delivery of the ball and that kind of thing [against the Stormers].

“I’ve been lucky enough to play a good few times against the South African national team and it’s very similar, a lot of it, the way their line-speed is, the way their physicality is, and we’ve been coming here for a long time now since they’ve entered the competition so we’ve got lots of experience.”

There is no respite for Munster. While the province has qualified for the URC playoffs, there is still a little work to do to ensure that they’ll play in the Champions Cup next season. It’s perhaps apposite that they return to the scene of this year’s exit, against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.

They’ll need to broach the same performance levels that they demonstrated in the win over the Stormers if they’re to beat the Sharks. O’Mahony said: “I know for lots of guys it’s their first time but you’ve got to have a quick learning curve.

“The big thing is processing lessons, and we certainly took a lot from the Sharks game. We made some improvements but we still have a few steps to go before we get back down there on Saturday.”