‘Complete package’: O’Mahony has no hesitation in Erasmus vs Farrell call

Peter O’Mahony has picked Andy Farrell over Rassie Erasmus as the best coach he worked under, despite offering a glowing assessment of the Springbok boss’ coaching ability.

The former Ireland and Munster captain was speaking on the For the Love of Rugby podcast following the release of his book All In, having worked closely with both Farrell and Erasmus during his career.

While Erasmus initially arrived at Munster in more of an overarching director of rugby role, O’Mahony explained that the South African was also an accomplished hands-on coach when circumstances required him to take a greater role on the training field following the death of Anthony Foley.

“So Rassie arrived as a director of rugby to us, and there were days where he’d stay in the office and wouldn’t come on the pitch. Then Axel [Anthony Foley] passed away, unfortunately, the worst time in the club. So then he was forced to be actually on the pitch with the forwards, and technically he was really good with the forwards.

“He took on the lineout until Fla took over and did a bit of our mauling stuff, and his technical side of it was good. But his main stuff was the director of rugby stuff, the motivating, the tactics, the technician stuff was his baby.”

For all his praise of Erasmus, though, O’Mahony had little hesitation when asked which of the two coaches he would choose to work with for an entire career, describing Farrell as the “complete package”.

“I’d take Faz. Faz is the best coach I ever had. Don’t get me wrong, how are you going to argue with Rassie with what he’s won and what he’s shown his ability to do? But if you were telling me I could only pick one coach to coach me for my whole career, it would have been Faz.

“For me, he’s the complete package. Just a normal fella, sound man, easy to talk to, obviously a proper leader, and just never seemed to get a room wrong. Meetings, just always great meetings. Holds his voice for the right moments. You’re not going to hear him all week, but when you do hear him, it’ll sit with you. A great philosophy in the game.”

O’Mahony also discussed the rivalry that has developed between Ireland and South Africa, believing Erasmus’ history with Munster, coupled with the movement of coaches and players between the two countries, has helped add another layer to their meetings.

“There’s definitely a bit of a dynamic there since Rassie came to Ireland. The way he’s with the media and stuff, and we’ve just had some big games over the years. It kind of rolled into it.

“Rassie and Jacques came over to us, then they went back. Obviously, then Jacques is back here with Leinster. So we’re kind of a little bit intertwined, and you have a few of them over here. RG was with us, he’s with Leinster now.

“So you’ve a few different aspects to it, but the main reason was that they were so competitive and such good games, and physical encounters. But it’s definitely turned into a big fixture for us. Definitely.”