Peter O’Mahony is not a big talker so when he does speak up, others listen.
The flanker won his 100th cap for Ireland against Scotland on Saturday in Paris in a decisive encounter in the race for the World Cup quarter-finals.
It is the latest landmark in a career full of them – not least when O’Mahony captained The British & Irish Lions in the opening Test of the 2017 Tour of New Zealand.
Before that clash at Eden Park, O’Mahony gathered his troops and delivered a rousing speech. As ever with O’Mahony, the players soaked up every word.
“Boys, today, whoever means something to you, or whatever it means to you, whether they’re at home, whether they’re in the stands or whether they’re not here anymore, they’ve got to feel it in your eyes when you get out there today,” he said.
“From the first second you take to the pitch, it’s non-negotiable today.
“Everything after that is cool, collected discipline to it that they can’t live it.
“Everybody’s got to see it!”
When it comes to O’Mahony, everyone can see it. He is the player who teammates love and opponents hate to play.
And yet too often, he is pigeonholed as a caricature – the niggly blindside flanker who makes life miserable for opponents.
That part is certainly true, but it hides the fact that he is one of the most athletic forwards that Ireland has produced in recent years – as well as one of the most cerebral.
After all, O’Mahony started out his rugby career on the wing, gradually shifting into centre, a brief stint at fly-half before settling in the back row.
He is a master of the lineout, both in securing his own ball, and also in challenging the opposition. That is testament to his reading of the set-piece, but also thanks to that aforementioned athleticism.
It has now been 11 years since he won his first cap. A former Ireland Under-18s and Under-20s captain, the progress to the senior side felt inevitable.
Within a year of that debut in 2012, he was captaining the side while a large contingent of Ireland players were away with the Lions in Australia.
Since then, he has played a key role in successive Six Nations titles in 2014 and 2015, before his Lions call-up in 2017.
What is most remarkable about O’Mahony captaining the side in the first Test against the All Blacks is that he started that year’s Six Nations out of the Ireland 23.
It took until a Round 3 win over France for him to force his way onto the bench, before a last-minute injury withdrawal of Jamie Heaslip saw him thrust into the starting line-up for the visit of Grand Slam-chasing England.
In typical fashion, O’Mahony seized the opportunity, earning Player of the Match honours as he re-established himself as a go-to man in the Ireland back row.
O’Mahony was never going to settle, if selection went against him, then he would simply work even harder to force his way back. It earned him a Lions selection, was enough to be a Test captain, and has made him the player he is today.
He has overcome omissions again more recently. Between rising star Caelan Doris, World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier and Lions Test No.8 Jack Conan, O’Mahony was starting to look like the odd man out in Andy Farrell’s Ireland team.
But as well as everything else he brings, there is a level of drive that separates him, even from some of the elite of the sport.
O’Mahony will never, ever accept defeat. That trademark withering stare is generally reserved for opponents, but can also be directed at any member of the media who dare suggest a lack of work-rate was a responsibility for those rare defeats.
It is why even with all the talent that Farrell has at his disposal, O’Mahony’s presence in the starting XV is non-negotiable. Through force of will, he has ensured that he cannot be ignored.
Six years ago, O’Mahony told his Lions teammates that everyone should see who they were playing for. When it comes to his 100th Ireland appearance on Saturday, the world’s number one team will be playing for O’Mahony as much as anyone else.
