Ronan O’Mahony raring to go for Munster

Benetton Treviso v Munster: Ronan O’Mahony was bitterly disappointed to miss out on the European Champions Cup games against Toulouse and Saracens. 

Hurt deepened by his standing as the team’s highest try scorer this season with nine after impressive performances in almost all of the Guinness PRO12 games.

“Yeah, I was definitely disappointed because they’re the ones you want to play and it was a hard one to take. But selection is out of my control. The only thing I can control is what I do on the pitch.

“It was hard being a spectator. You’re sitting down on the sideline in your tracksuit and all you want to do is run on and help the lads or try and create something. Hopefully I get a chance this week to show what I can do on the pitch.”

There is cautious optimism in the weakened Munster camp facing into tomorrow evening’s game at Treviso.

“We’ve been turned over there in previous seasons and they’ve taken two scalps, Ospreys and Edinburgh, in their last two home games,” pointed out the 27-year-old winger. “We’re mindful of that and we can’t have a hangover coming off the back of Saracens. We have to hit the ground running and keep the mood up and positive.

“We’ll definitely become a better team after the Saracens game. As Zeebs said after the match, it’s not a full stop. There’s a huge amount to play for this season. We’ve put a huge amount of work into this PRO12 and if we go to Italy and get two points and secure that home semi, it would be huge. It’s a massive competition for us and all we have left really and we’re putting everything into it.”

Although the boss overlooked him for the two European knock-out games, O’Mahony is delighted Rassie Erasmus will be staying at Munster for the next couple of years.

“I think Rassie really appreciates my work-rate, that I provide good momentum to the team and obviously getting over for a couple of tries helps. We’re delighted to have his experience and even with his short involvement here we’ve grown so much as a team and no matter what happens it is always going to stand to us.

“Our development from last year to this year has been huge. Saracens have a lot of the same players who lost before they won and it took them a while to really, really find their feet and become the force they are. Hopefully that’s the transition we’re making, it might take next year or the year after but at some stage we will become that force.”