The 34-year-old will lead Ireland out against France at Stade Velodrome tonight, 11 years after being handed the Munster captaincy, a role he called time on before Christmas after just over a decade as his province’s inspirational leader. Yet listening to him yesterday following his first captain’s run media conference as permanent successor to Johnny Sexton and ahead of his 102nd Ireland cap, the veteran flanker painted a picture of himself as different animal now to the man he was when he succeeded Doug Howlett as Munster skipper in the summer of 2013.
The sense of O’Mahony as something other than the iconic leader we have grown accustomed to in recent years and of whom team-mate Tadhg Beirne made that natural born leader reference last Monday.
There are times, O’Mahony said, when he looks back on his early captaincy at Munster through gritted teeth and when asked at Stade Velodrome yesterday about whether he felt under more pressure personally to deliver a result for Ireland now he was captain, he said: I think the immature version of me would have said yes, but I’ve plenty of miles on the clock at the moment and with that brings experience.
Probably only those closest to the Ireland captain and those who have known him the longest will have ever seen that immature version so it begged the question of how much his leadership style has changed in those 11 years.
Jeez, we could sit here for a couple of hours and talk about the different … I was 22 when I was named captain of Munster, to today a different animal altogether, for lots of reasons, O’Mahony said.
The game moves on, I think leadership moves on, people move on, people’s circumstances change, different experiences.
That all adds to what you are here now and it’s changed me a huge amount as a person and as a leader.
I often look back and think: ‘What were you thinking?’ But rugby was a different game form what it is now, a different sport, so a different animal.
O’Mahony has been exposed to some distinguished leaders himself in an almost 12-year Test career, playing under the captaincy of Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Rory Best and Johnny Sexton, whom he succeeded last month following the 38-year-old’s retirement after the World Cup last October.
In particular, he is grateful for the time he shared with, and the information he gleaned from Sexton.
Obviously I’ve been very close to him for a long time and not just for rugby reasons, but we’d be in touch for many other reasons. I had a good chat with him a few weeks ago and he’s in good form, I can report.
I’d be shocked if you asked anybody in that dressing room who played with Johnny if they hadn’t picked up something from him. As I’ve done from all the leaders I’ve come across in my career. That’s kind of what the game is about, learning and being diligent and picking stuff up off guys who have figured it out, and he certainly was one of them.
I’m lucky enough to say I’ve come across lots of those guys who at that time in their careers, figured it out. It would be a huge remiss of me or anyone who played with them to not have picked up a huge amount from them.
O’Mahony, of course, is very much his own man and Ireland boss Andy Farrell earlier this week said the Corkman had remained true to himself since he named him captain.
He’s been calm enough, Farrell said on Wednesday.
He’s not overplaying his hand and that’s how it should be. Just be yourself, that’s good enough for us all. Trying to be something that you’re not doesn’t feel right anyway.
He’s been writing a few things down a little bit more than usual. I’m sure that he’ll be gathering his thoughts etc to make sure that he starts to take ownership at the end of the week, which is what captains normally do.
Nor is O’Mahony shying away from the challenges that Test captaincy poses. The days of just focusing on his individual performance and hoping the rest sorts itself out are over as far as he is concerned.
I think that’s kind of the old school thinking. You’ve got to talk about it and address these things. They’re important milestones or occasions to talk about. Doing that probably takes the edge off a bit of the anxiety and pressure that is Test match rugby.
Certainly we’ve spoken about all those things and I think particularly, I was going to say for younger guys but I think for all age groups or no matter what position in your career, it’s a stressful environment and I think the more we talk about scenarios, things happening, occasions, milestones, whatever, I think it makes life easier for everyone and we’ve certainly done that.
