Flanker Peter O’Mahony is looking to use Munster’s United Rugby Championship (URC) success as a springboard to Rugby World Cup glory.
The Limerick outfit claimed their first piece of silverware for 12 years in May following a 19-14 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.
It capped a remarkable end to the season for the province, who won three away matches in a row – all in different countries – to lift the trophy.
Although the World Cup will be a different experience, O’Mahony believes that their ability to win in “hostile” environments will stand him in good stead in France.
Munster’s resolve
Munster had to display both physical and mental toughness to win in Scotland, Dublin and South Africa over consecutive rounds.
“It’s tough on the body, even being away from home for that long and the distances that we were doing, the long-haul stuff is tough and takes a toll on you,” he told reporters.
“But it gives you a good sense of how to navigate trips and navigate hostile environments, the Aviva, being away in South Africa.
“I thought the two weeks in South Africa was a turning point for us big time, it stood to us massively.
“Having taken a beating from the Sharks, to go back over and beat the Stormers for the first time in a long time at home and then to get the draw (v Sharks), probably should have won that game, I thought that gave us a massive amount of belief that we could go and do something special, and it stood to us.”
O’Mahony has achieved plenty in the game, especially with Ireland, but the flanker insisted that winning the URC title was one of his great moments.
“It was more relief for me than anything. It’s been 10 years since I was asked to captain Munster and obviously, very little to show for it,” he said.
“It was one of the proudest memories of my career, lifting it with Keith [Earls] having gone through a lot together.
“Obviously I could have picked a big chunk of guys to do it with but I thought he was a fitting man with everything that’s he’s done for the club.
“Coming back in here, it was two or three weeks after it, it was in the back of the memory a little bit.
“We’re kicking on and a couple of powerful meetings in here at the start, you flip the page fairly quickly.
“But it was great, obviously, a huge leap. Hugely proud of it.”
Ireland’s RWC hopes
Ireland have never been past the quarter-finals of a World Cup but reaching the last-four will not be deemed a success for the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam winners.
For O’Mahony and his team-mates, there is only one thing that will constitute a positive global tournament and that is bringing home the Webb Ellis Cup.
“I doubt you go into any team that is going to compete in the World Cup and someone is going to tell you they want to come fourth,” he says when asked about winning the World Cup.
“That’s what you have to compete with, everyone is in the same position training their holes off and working as hard as they can.
“You’re going to come up against the best version of every country you play in the tournament.
“Everyone has ambitions to win it outright, everyone goes to France wanting to win it.
“It’s a different animal going and doing it, that’s what we’re training to do at the moment, training in environments that are difficult, testing the limits of ourselves.
“Obviously we have a huge amount of experiences in the last two years and beyond in different scenarios we have gone through that we will all fall back on at different times.
“You have got to be ambitious and this group and coaching staff are ambitious. We certainly won’t shy away from that.”
READ MORE: Ross Byrne offers insight into ‘intense’ Ireland training ahead of Rugby World Cup
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