Pressure helped us, admits O'Mahony

Ireland back rower Peter O’Mahony admitted the team were motivated by the pressure to stay in the top 8 of the IRB World Rankings when they took to the field against the Pumas on Saturday.

Only a victory could guarantee Ireland a top 8 billing ahead of the 2015 World Cup pool allocation draw on December 3 and Declan Kidney’s men delivered with a comprehensive 46-24 win over the Pumas.

The seven-try rout saw Ireland jump up one place in the rankings to sixth while the Pumas fell three places to ninth meaning they will have two other heavyweight rugby nations in their Pool for the 2015 World Cup.

With several senior squad members missing the pressure fell on the likes of 23-year-old O’Mahony and the Munster man confessed the world cup draw was at the forefront of their minds when they lined out at the weekend.

“Of course it was on our minds,” he said. “A few fellas said to me afterwards that Ireland going into a World Cup outside the top 8 would have hurt as an Irishman more than a rugby player.

“There was huge pressure on us during the week and on the staff so there was great relief in the dressing room afterwards.”

Ireland hit top gear from the first whistle and just after the half-hour mark Simon Zebo crossed for the team’s fourth try after Craig Gilroy, Jonathan Sexton and Richardt Struass had already touched down.

The Pumas stayed in touch throughout the first half however courtesy of Irish indiscipline which allowed Nicolas Sanchez to kick three penalties and O’Mahony admits it was frustrating to see Argentina putting points on the board considering how dominant Ireland were.

“We were the team playing rugby but we were conceding silly penalties which were keeping them in the game. I think that’s an area that we’re going to have to look at.”

The 22-point winning margin doesn’t flatter Kidney’s men who were in a different class to their opponents on Saturday with both Argentinian tries coming in the last three minutes but according to the flanker it was far from a walk in the park.

“They’re a good physical pack, they’ve got some world class players and we had to work really hard to break them down.

“Argentina are an outstanding side, they’ve always been a real tough side, a physical side, pack orientated but since they came into the Rugby Championship they’ve added different aspects to their game.

“They’re a well rounded side and I think that shows the positivity we played with and that’s a credit to our coaches as well for backing us, they could easily have said to kick the ball in the air and hope for it come back but they didn’t, they backed us and they backed our football and we played well.

“We talked during the week about doing ourselves proud and doing our families proud and the country proud and I think we did that which is really satisfying.”

Injuries to the likes of Paul O’Connell, Brian O’Driscoll, Stephen Ferris, Seán O’Brien, Rory Best and Rob Kearney forced Declan Kidney to blood some of his younger and more peripheral players and Saturday’s performance saw several players lay down a marker for selection.

O’Mahony impressed in the back row alongside Chris Henry and Jamie Heaslip but he knows he’ll have to maintain high standards if he is to challenge for a starting spot when O’Brien and Ferris return.

“There’s fellas coming back from injury, there will be huge competition over the next few weeks. Fellas get their opportunities, all I can do now is worry about my own game over the next few weeks and try and play well for my club.”

The Munster man sees himself as part of the squad that will take Ireland into the next World Cup and he understands the importance of new leaders emerging as senior squad members get closer to retirement.

“We want to take control of this squad, there’s going to have to be new leaders coming through and fellas to take control of this team and hopefully the bones of this squad because it’s so young will be taking it to the World Cup and we have to take the reins and drive it on ourselves.”