\u201cNew Zealand had a \u2018no dickheads\u2019 policy, but their approach to rugby was ferocious,\u201d O\u2019Mahony wrote.<\/p>\n
Ireland loose forward Peter O’Mahony goes on the charge during his side’s historic 2022 series against the All Blacks. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no problem with that at all. As well as the physical and mental tests, there were always verbal tests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would abuse you all night long. It came with the territory. When you played the All Blacks, this was par for the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when I told Sam Cane, \u2018You\u2019re just a s*** Richie McCaw\u2019, it was me giving something back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The verbal barbs O\u2019Mahony had directed at him by All Black rivals over the years included in the dying minutes of Ireland\u2019s 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss when lock Brodie Retallick yelled at him<\/a>: \u201cOi, Peter! Four more years, you f***wit\u201d.<\/p>\n Not only did Cane\u2019s side lose the 2022 test in Dunedin, but the following week his side also lost 32-22 at Westpac Stadium to become the first All Blacks team to lose a test series to Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the deciding third test, Cane described the comment as \u201cgood rugby banter\u201d.<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony wrote in All In that while his comment \u201ccaptured people\u2019s imaginations\u201d, what was overlooked was \u201chow poor a gag it was\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit of craic at the end of a game when the most important fact was that they were going to be the first All Blacks team to lose to us in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cTo tell someone they\u2019re a s*** Richie McCaw is to say you\u2019re still a nine out of 10 player. McCaw was one of the best there ever has been, so it wasn\u2019t much of a putdown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018F*** off\u2019: The stinging response when O\u2019Mahony sought Richie McCaw\u2019s jersey<\/p>\n A decade earlier, O\u2019Mahony was a member of the Irish team that travelled to New Zealand upbeat before another three-test series.<\/p>\n He was aged just 22 and the previous year had been named the Rugby Union Players\u2019 Association\u2019s Young Player of the Year.<\/p>\n Ireland went on to lose the series 3-0.<\/p>\n The highlight was the second test, when the All Blacks needed a dropped goal from Dan Carter in the 81st minute to secure a 22-19 win.<\/p>\n A week later came the low point: being on the receiving end of a 60-0 hammering in Hamilton.<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony confided in All In that it was \u201cone of the worst experiences of my career\u201d, adding he feared being part of the team beaten so badly meant his Irish career could be over just four months after his test debut.<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony started at No 8, opposing Richie McCaw, who had switched to No 8 for the All Blacks for the test.<\/p>\n After enduring a hammering on the field, he endured more pain after trying to swap jerseys post-match.<\/p>\n \u201cI figured if this was my last Ireland appearance I might as well go into their dressing room and try and swap jerseys with one of the all-time greats,\u201d he wrote in his book.<\/p>\n \u201cMa\u2019a Nonu, who hadn\u2019t been playing, was in his blazer outside the All Blacks\u2019 dressing room, stopped me going in. \u2018He\u2019s doing media, mate,\u2019 he told me, and I sat down and waited outside for McCaw to walk past.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a while, I realised he must have gone back into the dressing room through another entrance. I went to go back in, and Nonu stood there like a bouncer with his arms crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony said he was then told, \u201cNot tonight\u201d, by Nonu.<\/p>\n When asked what he meant by that, O\u2019Mahony said, Nonu told him to \u201cf*** off\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was angry, but I wasn\u2019t completely deranged. I was on my own in New Zealand territory, so I went off with my tail between my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony said he later got an apology from one of Nonu\u2019s teammates. But the treatment he received from Nonu still left an ugly taste.<\/p>\n \u201cKieran Read had witnessed the exchange, and he came up to me afterwards and said, \u2018Sorry about that\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge sign of respect for someone to come in looking for your jersey. If I had seen an Irish player doing what Ma\u2019a Nonu did, I would have ripped his f***ing head off.\u201d<\/p>\n Gatland\u2019s Lions \u2013 Beers, pre-match fried food and coach\u2019s \u2018anxiety\u2019<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony had plenty of exposure to New Zealand\u2019s leading players during his 13-year test career.<\/p>\n Between 2012 and 2025, he played 114 tests for Ireland and one test for the British & Irish Lions.<\/p>\n His test career also saw him play under high-profile New Zealand coaches Joe Schmidt (for Ireland) and Warren Gatland (on the Lions\u2019 2017 tour of New Zealand)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gatland named O\u2019Mahony as his captain for the first test against the All Blacks of the 2017 series, a match they lost 30-15.<\/p>\n In All In, O\u2019Mahony wrote that the build-up to the test \u2013 which included rigorous twice-daily training sessions – \u201cmight have revealed a bit of Gatland\u2019s own anxiety\u201d.<\/p>\n He was dropped for the second test, being told by Gatland: \u201cI don\u2019t have a space for you this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n He never asked the coach to talk through his reasons, because \u201cI didn\u2019t have any kind of relationship with Gatland\u201d.<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony said he was further perplexed by the build-up to the third test, where instead of double training sessions the side was encouraged to get on the drink<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDouble sessions before the first test and then a few days on the booze before the last were two extremes I don\u2019t think we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n He also questioned the choice of pre-match meals before Lions tests under Gatland: fish and chips and burgers.<\/p>\n The menu had become regular with the Wales team Gatland coached, having dined out on fast food before breaking a losing streak several seasons earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that became Wales\u2019 pre-match meal, and then it became the pre-match meal on the Lions tour,\u201d O\u2019Mahony wrote in All In.<\/p>\n But with the Lions playing twice a week while in New Zealand, it meant two deep-fried pre-match meals weekly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was f***ing madness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Some people struggled, but I loved it\u2019: The \u2018intensity\u2019 of Joe Schmidt<\/p>\n Gatland was the second New Zealand head coach who O\u2019Mahony had played test rugby under.<\/p>\n The first was Schmidt during his 2013-19 tenure as Ireland coach.<\/p>\n While his dealings with Gatland weren\u2019t career highlights, O\u2019Mahony made it clear in All In how much he respected Schmidt; a coach he said \u201cchanged me as a professional player … he transformed my understanding of what the game was about and how I could play it\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to rip up the best teams in the world because Joe would have figured out a way to break them down.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Schmidt brought an \u201cintensity\u201d to the Ireland team he hadn\u2019t experienced before.<\/p>\n But he added that not everyone enjoyed it as much as he did.<\/p>\n The Kiwi coach \u2013 who went on to become an All Blacks assistant coach, then Wallabies head coach \u2013 ran a tight ship.<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony said players were under no illusions: they had to \u201cwatch your Ps and Qs, and you felt you had to be someone other than yourself\u201d.<\/p>\n In the build-up to Ireland\u2019s disappointing 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign \u2013 with O\u2019Mahony saying the preparations were \u201cwrong\u201d \u2013 that included Schmidt banning players who hadn\u2019t completed a set amount of training from playing golf in their downtime.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people struggled, but I loved it,\u201d O\u2019Mahony wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cYou quickly learned that if you didn\u2019t know something, Joe would f***ing annihilate you.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you hadn\u2019t done your homework, you were going to get both barrels from Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n >> All In by Peter O\u2019Mahony is published by Penguin Books with a recommended retail price of $65.<\/p>\nThe sledge aimed at Sam Cane had no malice behind it, instead following years of abuse directed at him by All Blacks, writes Peter O’Mahony. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Peter O’Mahony has revealed the verbal spray he received from Ma’a Nonu when he tried to go into the All Blacks dressing shed to swap jerseys with Richie McCaw. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
After being hammered by the All Blacks, Peter O’Mahony wanted to get Richie McCaw’s jersey. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Peter O’Mahony says Kieran Read apologised for Ma’a Nonu’s actions. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
British & Irish Lions loose forward Peter O’Mahony during a training session during the side’s 2017 tour of New Zealand. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Peter O’Mahony has written in his new book about parts of Warren Gatland’s coaching of the British & Irish Lions that left him bemused. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions captain Peter O’Mahony has released his explosive new book.<\/p>\n
Joe Schmidt was a tough taskmaster, but Peter O’Mahony says he was amongst the majority of Ireland players who backed the Kiwi coach. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n