Munster’s Ronan O’Mahony ready to take his chance

Munsters Ronan O’Mahony has signed for another two seasons with the province, and say’s he didn’t even think about not signing when it came to re-signing to the club that he grew up as a young boy supporting. Especially as he could be in with a chance of pushing to get a call up to the Irish Squad for their up and coming summer tour in America and Japan. Staying with Munster was the best decision for him.

O’Mahony has been absolutely brilliant for Rassie Erasmus’ Munster side this season so far, and the Garryowen club man has touched down for nine tries this season with having played 20 games for the club  in the past few months.

The Limerick winger is more than certain to feature in Erasmus’s team for their trip to Parma to play Zebre on Saturday. O’Mahony also hopes that with a good peformance for himself on Saturday will mean that he will have a very good chance of getting into the 23 man squad when all the international players return to play Toulouse in the Champions Cup on Saturday week.

With Munster and Ireland star players such as Conor Murray, Simon Zebo, Keith Earls and Andrew Conway all playing during the Six Nations, (Conway who got his first cap for Ireland against England on Saturday)  Ronan is confident enough he is in Joe Schmidt’s thoughts for the up and coming summer tour. A good performance in the next few games will hopefully guarantee him a spot in the Irish team and also hopefully with a good few of the Irish players gone with Lions tour this summer on their tour of New Zealand, O’Mahony will have his chance to shine.

In a recent interview he said about Munsters up and coming games “Look, Munster is where I grew up. I have played all my rugby here. I am really enjoying it so far and especially this season. It was a no-brainer for me really. This is where I want to play my rugby. I am loving it at the moment.

“It (the competition) is massive. You have Earlsie, Zeebs, Andy (Conway) now is an international player as well, Darren Sweetnam and myself. The competition is huge but it makes us all better players.

“When you see a fella doing so well and you know that international stage is so close, you keep pushing.

“You want to give Rassie a headache as regards selection, definitely. With Toulouse next week and Zebre this week, there are a couple of spots still up for grabs and this is the last chance for fellas to say this is why I should be selected and give him a good headache for next week.”

A win against Zebre on Saturday for Munster is big, even though Munster are already in the top two teams in the Pro 12. But every game is vital to win. O’Mahony is keen to play his part once again for his Province. Since he signed his first professional contract with his brother, Barry, who has since left the professional game, the 27 year old is eager to show that he is up to the mark to be starting for his province for the rest of the season.

The thoughts of playing for Ireland in the first part of their tour in Japan this summer is something that O’Mahony is thinking about and hopes that he can get his chance to show what he is made off in the international ranks.

He said “Absolutely yeah, it is something that when you are growing up you see lads playing for Munster and Ireland and it is something you want to do. It is a natural pathway. It is 100 per cent there. I need to keep focusing on my game.

“It doesn’t feel like it is a million miles away, especially with Earlsie, Zeebs, Andy now, myself and Sweets, hopefully it is just around the corner the international stage, but you just have to keep focused on your own job at the moment, keep playing well, keep feeding off each other, really. Performing well for Munster is the main thing.

“I have never had contact with Joe, but he is a great coach and I know he doesn’t miss a beat. He has his eyes on all players, all back threes, every player across the country, so he knows exactly what we are at. I am sure he is watching, yes.”

Having been brilliant for Munster for the past few years, let alone this season we can only hope for the best for the Garryowen club man, and that he makes that summer tour for Schmidt’s Irish Team.