There's an increasing debate about the entertainment value being provided by this season's rugby fare in general, notably the current RBS Six Nations and specifically Ireland's performances, as against a winning habit that now extends to nine. Needless to say, it largely washes over Peter O'Mahony.
The Munster captain is generally economical with his words, all the more so in front of a media posse and particularly in match week for fear of giving the opposition any ammunition.
That he used the word “physical” or “physicality” fully ten times in his press conference at the Irish squad’s base in the Carton House Hotel yesterday tells us everything about what they have faced in their two games to date and what he expects on Sunday.
"Defences have become very good. You look at teams in the Six Nations and there's a huge amount of line speed there. It's quite difficult to break down teams down the middle now. I think a lot of it has become analysis-based and trying to find little glitches in what are hugely good defences. It's probably right in some ways. It's probably the way the game has gone alright."
Hugely attritional
As to whether this should be a concern, he smiled. “Look, they are hugely attritional games, and we’re staring down the barrel of another one at the weekend. There’s nothing a player can do out there, we’re doing our best. We need to brush up on a few things, our attention to detail and that kind of thing, but trust me, the physicality and attrition out there is hugely high and intense.”
In other words, any perceived lack of entertainment is not of his concern. “Personally, it doesn’t really affect me. If I go out there and play 80 minutes and win the game. I’m happy enough.”
Hence, Ireland’s ability to adapt to the demands of their two games so far leaves O’Mahony content enough. “I think we’ve come up against two hugely physical teams and the reason we’ve won both of them is because we’ve matched them and gone beyond them. For me, that’s the reason we’ve won the two games.”
Nonetheless, he was assuredly speaking for all when admitting that there is more to come from this Ireland team. "We have quality rugby players, quality footballers so there's plenty of potential there, we just need to unlock it."
“We’re obviously happy enough to get the wins but I don’t think we’ve been overly happy with our performance. I think we’ve had two very tough games and we’ve battled them out well but I don’t think we’ve been happy with our execution and our attention to detail. On the flip side of that it gives us plenty to work on and plenty of things to look forward to and implement. So there’s kind of a mixed feeling at the moment.”
France assuredly provided England with a template of sorts by flooding and competing so feverishly at the breakdown, so preventing Ireland from building the kind of quickly recycled ball that is their lifeblood. But asked what areas Ireland needed to improve upon, O'Mahony merely stated: "I'm talking about across the board. I think our attention to detail and ball focus needs to go up a little bit."
Once again, it could have been his master’s voice speaking.
Harrowing defeat
The 25-year-old O’Mahony was a replacement in the almost harrowing 30-9 defeat at Twickenham three seasons ago, since when he has effectively cemented his hold on the number six jersey, starting 22 of Ireland’s subsequent 28 Tests. This has included ensuing defeats to England at the Aviva three seasons ago and in Twickenham last season.
Hence, he has yet to taste success against England at senior level, as he and six others in this week's squad did six seasons ago for the under-20s when a late Ian Madigan drop goal secured a 19-18 win. "They are hugely well organised," O'Mahony says of England. "As a result, they are quite hard to stop. We're going to have to be 100% with regard to our 'D' [defence]. You back up their hugely impressive organisation with their physicality. It's a mix that's hard to stop."
