“It’s a special club” | Conor Murray praises Peter O’Mahony ahead of 100th cap

O’Mahony has experienced the ups and downs of International and club rugby alongside Munster and Irish teammate Conor Murray.

Peter O’Mahony could join a prestigious ‘club’ this Saturday if he features in Ireland’s crucial Rugby World Cup tie with Scotland.

The Cork native currently sits on 99 caps and would become the ninth Irish centurion should he take to the field in Paris on Saturday evening.

It would be just rewards for a stalwart of club and country since he broke onto the scene over a decade ago.

O’Mahony has experienced plenty of ups and downs in the green of Ireland and red of Munster, something he has done side by side with Conor Murray who reached the milestone of caps last Autumn.

Ahead of the potential landmark cap, Murray praised his club mate.

“I’ve been with Pete since Munster U16s, a long time and I suppose we have shared the club journey and the Irish journey pretty much side by side. You know we’ve shared a lot of that together and it’s a huge day for himself and his family and everyone that has been with him the whole way up.

“Hopefully it all goes to plan and Pete gets that milestone because it’s a very special club.”

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Finlay Balham, who described O’Mahony as his ‘best friend’ also spoke glowingly about the Munster man.

“He’s an incredible leader in the group and I really look up to him as a player. They way he is a professional on and off the pitch, I’ll be delighted for him and he is a credit to the jersey.

Finlay Balham

However, O’Mahony will be solely focused on the job at hand with Ireland’s progression to the quarter-finals not guaranteed as of yet despite the fact that they have won each of their three games, including against the defending World Champions.

Their opponents, Scotland, know anything but a win will see them eliminated and Gregor Townsend’s men have been impressive in their recent outings having lost to South Africa in the opener.

Ireland have dominated the fixture in recent years but will not be looking past the Scottish threat Murray insisted.

“We’ve had some huge battles with Scotland recently. They have really developed their game and that’s not just something we’re saying.

“All those games, especially in the last few years, they’ve been very tight fixtures. Some of the scoreboards might read a little bit differently but genuinely Scotland are a top side and pose an awful lot of threats across the board.

“We play them every year in the Six Nations and we know how good they can be and we’re certainly not overlooking them. That may be the story on the outside but I can assure you that it’s completely different in here.

Ireland face Scotland in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Paris on Saturday evening at 8pm Irish Time.