Peter O’Mahony enhanced by Lions experience, claims O’Donnell

Munster’s Lions trio are set for their seasonal debuts on Saturday with Tommy O’Donnell believing Peter O’Mahony has returned from the New Zealand tour a better captain.

O’Mahony, 28, alongside fellow Lions CJ Stander and Conor Murray, is set to feature in Munster’s Guinness PRO14 clash with Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park on Saturday (1.30pm), boosting the province in timely fashion following their chastening 37-15 reversal at Glasgow last Friday, a first defeat of the new season.

The drawn series with the All Blacks during the summer was seen as a bittersweet experience for O’Mahony, who earned the Test captaincy from head coach Warren Gatland for the series opener at Eden Park in June but was substituted early in the second half of that eventual defeat and did not feature on tour again. The Corkman was replaced by tour captain Sam Warburton, who started the final two Tests, leading the team to victory in Wellington and a draw in the final Test back in Auckland.