Peter O’Mahony sits in the Guinness Storehouse at the 2024 Six Nations Championship launch with a default expression that says to the room do not take me seriously at your peril. His mouth slightly turned down at the corners, O’Mahony, possibly the most grizzled “new” Ireland captain, is not frowning but nor is he smiling. In the post-Johnny Sexton era his never take a step back stare is an image with which cameras will become accustomed.
It’s an expression that changes little whether O’Mahony is talking about the utter misery of losing in the World Cup to the All Blacks or declaring the captaincy “is one of the biggest honours of my career”. He talks about the meaning of Ireland and the captaincy with barely concealed emotion.
For good reason O’Mahony is recognised as a player who knows who he is and has taken pride throughout his career in understanding the tribe to which he belongs. His mien is ”I lead, you follow”.
“Authentic,” says Ireland coach Andy Farrell, his captain sitting beside him with his hands on the front of the table unflinching and generating all the pride, rocket-fuel energy and potential that the armband brings.
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At 34 O’Mahony is four years younger than Sexton was when he retired after last year’s World Cup, and no voice was raised against Farrell’s force-of-nature pick. Ten years with the Munster captaincy has not taken the edges off the unvarnished exterior, maybe even weathered it and further hardened the credentials of a committed player and natural leader. “It’s a huge honour and I am grateful to be asked. It is slightly different to be asked to do it for a full campaign, for a Six Nations,” he says.
The flanker added that his contract, which has not yet been agreed, will not be a distraction. However, the details of the ongoing discussions were not something he wished to discuss on Six Nations presentation day. “This is always the time of year that this stuff comes around. There’s been lots of talk about it the last couple of weeks so I’m looking to leave it at that. We have a whole Six Nations kicking off, and I’m delighted to be talking about that and park that [contract] stuff.
“I wasn’t expecting it [captaincy] to be honest. A special phone call to get and then you’ve got to go and do your job for the week with Munster. An honour to get the call. To get that phone call from Andy, it was such a special thing to be honest. A huge honour.”
O’Mahony also declared that he expects to be available for Ireland’s opening match against France on Friday week in Marseille. He was taken off last weekend in the second half of Munster’s Champions Cup match against Northampton Saints in Thomond Park. “No, I expect to be fit,” he says with certainty.
Farrell also admitted there were several other candidates in the squad who could have comfortably worn the captain’s armband. However, O’Mahony fitted the role more snugly come match day and in the furnace heat of the locker room before a Six Nations match.
“Obviously there’s a few candidates because we’ve got some great leadership in the group and it continues to grow, and Peter will be at the heart of that to help it do exactly that,” he said. “As far as natural fit and natural leaders and coming from what we’ve come from before with Johnny, he’s the type of leader that is exactly the same in the sense that he’s just being himself, and being your natural self is what they call being authentic these days, isn’t it? It’s very easy to follow.
“There are certain people that walk into a room and they make the room feel right. It’s pretty important around the place, and certainly on match day that you have that type of person in the dressingroom and Peter’s certainly one of those. So just being himself and helping others to grow. It’s going to be great for him and his family, and I know he’ll do the country proud.”
On that there are no dissenters.
