Captain's Call

PETER O'MAHONY is no stranger to leading. But what is the burden of Six Nations captaincy like for him and others in this tournament?

- TOM ENGLISH

WHEN ANDY FARRELL named Peter O’Mahony as the new captain of Ireland, the decision was met with near unanimous acclaim across the land. Sure, Ulster would have had hopes for Iain Henderson and Leinster might have had optimism for Caelan Doris, but the Munsterman, captain of his province for ten straight seasons, was a hugely popular choice. “Authentic” was the word Farrell used about O’Mahony.

“He’s a born leader… Being your natural self is what they call being authentic these days, isn’t it? There are certain people that walk into a room and they make the room feel right. It’s pretty important that you have that type of person in the dressing room and Peter’s certainly one of those.”

O’Mahony spoke of the honour bestowed upon him. “Ever since I was a boy starting off in the game, I’ve always dreamed of captaining Ireland,” he said. “I’ve been asked to lead Ireland on a number of occasions previously and each of those ten matches were special days. To be now asked to captain Ireland is without doubt one of the proudest moments of my life. I grew up watching and idolising the Munster team and in particular the people who were leading the team. People like Mick Galwey, Jim Williams then on to the likes of ROG (Ronan O’Gara) and Paul (O’Connell), who I had the privilege of playing with at the start of my career.”