Peter O’Mahony on the biggest mistake he made as Munster captain & Andy Farrell’s influence
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Skipper.
Peter O’Mahony has revealed how he came to regret the way he treated some teammates during his time as Munster captain.
In his autobiography All In, O’Mahony writes that he placed too much weight on a player’s ability. If he decided someone was unlikely to make it at Munster, he could be quick to dismiss them.
“To put it simply, I would put a huge weight on somebody’s rugby ability,” O’Mahony writes.
“And if I felt they weren’t of the right standard, I didn’t want to know about them.
“I wouldn’t give them the time of day if I didn’t think they had the ability to make it at Munster. And once I came to that conclusion about them, it was done … not good enough for Munster and not good enough for me.”
O’Mahony began questioning his approach during the first year of the pandemic. As he thought about how other players might have experienced his captaincy, he realised he needed to address it with the squad.
He organised a Zoom meeting for the Munster players, with no coaches on the call. O’Mahony spoke for the first 10 to 15 minutes and acknowledged where he felt he had gone wrong before opening the conversation to his teammates.
Speaking to The Irish Times, O’Mahony said there “wasn’t much left unturned.”
“I had been very open myself [on the call],” O’Mahony told The Irish Times.
“So there probably wasn’t much left unturned. I went through a lot of it myself in front of everyone.
“The thing I’d always underwrite it with is that I always had Munster at heart. Even though I was being a bit of a b****cks or I was pressurising people, I always wanted the club to do well. There was never any personal nastiness.”
O’Mahony credits Andy Farrell with opening his eyes and changing his outlook.
“Andy came in, and he changed my outlook on the game and what it looked like to be a leader,” O’Mahony said.
“The game was changing, and I kind of wasn’t. When he came in, it opened my eyes up a bit. There was stuff that I shouldn’t have done – the pressure I was putting on people and the way I was treating them as a result.
“For the later part of my career in Munster, I kind of let the curtains down a bit and became more open to everybody in the squad. Not that it was a difficult thing to do – when I realised it, I knew I had to do it.”
“It was very different when I started. In rugby, being vulnerable would have been seen as a sign of weakness.”
It was an uncomfortable admission for a player whose demanding standards had long been part of his reputation.
O’Mahony remained Munster captain and went on to lead the province to the URC title in 2023.
