Ireland captain shares honest thoughts on player mentality and Joe Schmidt’s influence
Ireland rugby legend Peter O’Mahony has offered a rare insight into why many Irish players keep their distance from the media and social media before matches.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, O’Mahony explained the thinking behind the team’s cautious approach.
“There were lots of reasons for it,” he said. “Stepping away from it, you see the benefit of it. But when you’re in it, certainly the IRFU are an entity, and they need to steer the ship in the direction they need to go.”
Preferring focus over fame
O’Mahony admitted he was never a fan of players posting on social media before games.
“Harry McNulty’s quotes like why would you want to be posting them 24 hours before a game?” he said. “If I want to post something. You’ve a f***ing game tomorrow!”
He added that his biggest concern was giving opponents motivation.
“My biggest fear ever because I took it the other way round a few times, was that I fuel anyone else. The amount of times I went into a Scottish game with stuff printed off on the back of my bedroom door for the week of stuff they said. Why would you give someone the fuel?”
On Joe Schmidt’s control and media approach
O’Mahony also reflected on working under former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
“He would’ve been very controlling and it was always like if there was an issue or we lost, it was always put O’Mahony out because I kinda said nothing,” he revealed.
He added: “There’s a lot of guys who struggle with it, and who would prefer not to. They already have a stress in the week and it would be an added stress, so they’ll say to the guys, unless they’re obliged to, would you mind leaving me off the roster cause I struggle with it.”
Watch the full podcast here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJjwD8tJAg8
