Peter O’Mahony, the Ireland flanker and Munster captain, outlined yesterday how the prospect of playing at the Stade de France this weekend played a critical role in his decision to sign a new contract with the IRFU last month.
The 28-year-old was linked with a move to France - where Simon Zebo, his Munster team-mate, will play for Racing 92 from next season - but rejected all offers and will stay in Ireland on a reported €450,000-a-year contract.
“These are the days you want to play rugby, from someone who’s growing up in Ireland and wanting to play for Ireland since they were small,” O’Mahony said at the Ireland team base in Carton House. “They had to be a priority.”
In all likelihood, selecting O’Mahony is likely to be one of Joe Schmidt’s priorities when he names his starting XV to play France tomorrow, a stark contrast to last season when O’Mahony came off the bench twice before being parachuted into the side to play England after Jamie Heaslip picked up an injury in the warm-up.
His performance that day helped to earn him a place on the summer’s British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, and he has taken that confidence into this season with Munster as well as Ireland, with starts coming against South Africa and Argentina in November.
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And with Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan, Dan Leavy and Jordi Murphy pushing for back-row places, it’s a well-timed run.
“There’s still incredible competition here for back-row places,” O’Mahony said. “Right across the back row, six or seven of us are fighting for a place. You’re always learning, you can never be complacent.
“That’s always been the way with Irish back-rowers, from a long time before I started until today — there’s always a massive competition.”
While there is likely to be consistency of selection in the Ireland pack on Saturday, Jacob Stockdale and Bundee Aki are two of the newer faces expected to push their way into the starting XV, on the wing and in midfield.
Jordan Larmour’s eye-catching performances for Leinster could yet lead to a NatWest Six Nations debut, while Andrew Conway has been impressive for Munster, too.
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All told, Ireland’s player options are wide and varied, another element that led to O’Mahony’s decision to stay on home soil and continue his career in green.
“It’s grown, it’s changed in the last few years, there are new guys in and there is incredible excitement about this group,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside a lot of them and against some of the young fellas.
“You see how the provinces are going. I must say I was looking forward to getting in and getting training alongside some of the guys that have been playing really well.”
• Munster’s 21-year-old centre, Sam Arnold, trained with Joe Schmidt’s squad at Carton House yesterday, after flying out to Spain last week for the squad’s five-day training camp. Arnold, however, has yet to be officially added to the panel.