Tomás O’Leary says criticism comes with the territory

Tomás O’Leary has known the highs of Six Nations and Heineken Cup glory, the bitter disappointment of forfeiting his place on a Lions tour because of a broken leg and in the latter part of his career the frustration of playing in London Irish and Munster teams that all too often failed to reach standards of which they looked to be eminently capable.

O’Leary tried all he knew as the ‘Exiles’ struggled in his three years in London and is now experiencing much of the same frustration having returned to Munster. He admits the latest team meeting at UL this week was a case of déjà vu, with almost everyone giving their views on what needs to be done to address the run of five consecutive losses.

“It is not through a lack of effort but it is up to us as players to correct our mistakes which we haven’t done in the past few weeks,” O’Leary says.