England have 'some of the best individuals in the world'
Ireland’s players are “hurting” after their Six Nations defeat to England, but Peter O’Mahony says they must not overreact to Saturday’s setback.
Joe Schmidt’s men, Grand Slam winners in 2018 and victors against New Zealand in November, suffered a first home Six Nations loss in six years as they were beaten 32-20 by England at the Aviva Stadium.
Addressing reporters on Monday, O’Mahony made it clear Ireland’s pride had been dented, while outlining the team’s desire to bounce back when they face Scotland at Murrayfield this weekend.
“We’re hurting,” said the experienced flanker. “The Aviva is obviously a place where we haven’t lost in a while.
“You never like losing, whether you’re playing for Ireland or your club, but particularly at the Aviva. It’s somewhere we’ve made a fortress and certainly that hurts, but the beauty of our job is luckily you can get back out … and have an opportunity to put that right.
“We can’t be hanging around feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to take our review on the chin, dust ourselves off and get stuck into the week, because there’s a lot of rugby to be played between now and the end of the campaign.”
O’Mahony gave credit to England, adding: “You know you’re coming up against some of the best individuals in the world and when they fire they’re difficult to stop.”
Peter O’Mahony: It hurts to lose at home but we take it on the chin. We can’t sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. pic.twitter.com/zAHC2TTSj0
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 4, 2019
Having achieved so much success in recent years, Ireland will not be making drastic changes to their approach.
“We’ve got to get back to the things that we do well,” explained O’Mahony. We’re certainly not going to throw all the game plan out of the window and start fresh. We’ve built a squad and a game plan for a long, long time now and we certainly won’t be going away from it. We just need to realise how important the stuff that we do well is for our game.
“I don’t know why we would be panicking. We’ve been sitting here for a long time now and it’s been all positive, this and that.
“It’s one loss. We were up against one of the best teams in the world. We’re certainly not going to shy away from it, it hurts, but we’re going to go back to what we do well and we’re going to do that excellently, hopefully, this week.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Chief Cheapshot on the market again.
1 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
10 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
10 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
10 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
3 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
3 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
3 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to comments