Peter O’Mahony admits Munster leadership burden may have hurt his game

O'Mahony agreed that the IRFU should be making an effort to ensure Irish players get as much game-time as possible, even if that means them moving province. 

“When you're playing in a club where you're from, you have this encapsulating worry about the whole thing," Peter O'Mahony said about his Munster career. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Peter O’Mahony believes that he may have taken on too much personal responsibility within Munster, possibly to the detriment of his own game.

“When you're in the leadership group, you're not just worried about your own performance,” O’Mahony, who recently retired from rugby,  told The Good, The Bad, & The Rugby podcast.

“You're worried about 'We need a new nutritionist. Are we getting the right person? The food isn't good enough at the moment. I need to get on to someone about sorting it out... do we need to talk to the company?'

“When you're playing in a club where you're from, you have this encapsulating worry about the whole thing. It's not just about Saturday and how you play, it's about how other people are feeling, you know, what are they doing? Are they looking after the academy lads well enough? Who's coming through for us?

“I felt the responsibility to kind of look after all that kind of stuff, be it rightly or wrongly. Sometimes I probably did that too much and didn't worry about my own game a bit.

“I remember ringing Paul (O’Connell) one day. We were letting a couple of strength and conditioning guys go and they were some of the best in the world, and have gone on to do incredible stuff.

“I was there, 'How are we letting these people go? He said, ‘Did you go into the fucking CEO's office and say it to him because that's part of your responsibility'.

“I was going, ‘Is it really, like?' But he was like, 'Well, if you're in, you're in. So you've got to go and have these conversations'.

“That was the other side to the kind of pressure and the responsibility you take on in that kind of an environment.” 

O’Mahony agreed with Mike Tindall’s suggestion that the IRFU should be making an effort to ensure Irish players are getting regular game-time, even if that means individuals moving province. Though, O’Mahony was unsure how that would work in reality.

“There's so many good players in Leinster,” said O’Mahony. “And there has to be a point where some of them have to say, ‘Do I want to play for Ireland? Do I want to chase down stuff? Or am I happy enough to stay here, potentially get a couple of European Cup medals'.

“You can't force anyone to leave. The IRFU are very good with keeping players in Ireland but unless they have an appetite to go as well, you can't force them to go.”