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IN AUCKLAND THE NAME of Peter O’Mahony would not even have been mentioned in his own family as a candidate to lead the Lions against the all-conquering All Blacks when the speculation game was being played out prior to the tour.
Yet circumstances contrived to land the granite Cork man the greatest honour in British and Irish rugby yesterday – and a glowing comparison to Paul O’Connell to go with it.
After heading up Auckland’s 328m Sky Tower yesterday, O’Mahony will lead the assault on an even more imposing edifice at Eden Park on Saturday bracketed with the Munster warrior king who captained the Lions in South Africa in 2009.
“He has that Paul O’Connell kind of DNA in him being a Munster man,” said Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree. “He has got the respect of the group, that’s for sure, by his actions and not just by what he has been saying as a captain. It’s that Munster kind of aggression around everything we do in training, a determination and a case of, ‘Follow me, lads’.
“He’s a good guy as well – very diligent, not afraid in training of saying, ‘Lads, this isn’t good enough’. He’s pulling along the standards, along with the coaches.
“I’ve enjoyed working with him. I’ve coached against him for a long time and he’s always a bloody handful when you’re playing against Ireland, but I’m delighted he’s on the tour.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the fella. He’ll be great for the group. The lads respect his actions and want to follow him.”
O’Mahony was not even in Ireland’s Six Nations starting line-up until Jamie Heaslip injured himself in the warm-up against England on the last weekend of the championship.
But that sliding-doors moment led to the Munster flanker delivering a man-ofthe-match performance in the defeat of the champions and booking himself a seat on the plane to New Zealand.
There were still a plethora of candidates ahead of him to lead the Test Lions but one by one they have fallen by the wayside. Sam Warburton is the tour captain but his injury problems have seen him miss out on a starting place to Sean O’Brien, while Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones will be among the troops in the second row.
Rory Best is the Ireland captain but he has been omitted entirely from the Test 23; likewise Greig Laidlaw, the Scotland skipper.
The Lions management feel they have a ready-made alternative in Munster captain O’Mahony, having passed his audition with flying colours in the victory over the New Zealand Maori last weekend. “He dealt with the referee well, respectfully speaking to him without being in his ear too much,” said Rowntree.
Captain or not, the 27-yearold will have a central role to play in the Lions’ strategy to disarm the All Blacks by neutralising their lineout possession.
“We need good lineout forwards against one of the best lineouts in the world – that has come into consideration. But it is not all about the lineout with him. His breakdown work is good, THE ALL BLACKS have dropped try-scoring machine Julian Savea for the opening Test against the Lions in a surprise move that shows the embarrassment of backline riches available to them.
The huge wing, who scored his 46th try in 53 Tests in the 78-0 thrashing of Samoa last week, makes way for Blues speed merchant Rieko Ioane, who will start his first Test.
The All Blacks have also gambled on the readiness of captain Kieran Read and he has high involvements and he is aggressive,” said Rowntree. O’Mahony is a trenches man. The glint in his eye – and that of back-row colleague Sean O’Brien – during closequarter combat has made a mark on the rest of the Lions. It is, claims James Haskell, slightly unsettling. “They are both completely mental,” said Haskell. “I’d be worried if I took them on, what might happen to me in centre Ryan Crotty by parachuting them straight into their starting line-up despite lengthy injury absences.
Read, inset, will play his first game in eight weeks after breaking a thumb while playing for the Crusaders against the Cheetahs.
Crotty, the side’s backline defensive organiser, returns after damaging his ribs on April 30.
While the duo’s return gives the All Blacks a warily familiar look, the exclusion of Savea – which has a direct parallel to the Lions’ treatment of George North – does give the world champions a shake-up.
Ioane, 20, produced the most eye-catching display of the tour against the Lions for the Blues, giving Jack Nowell a torrid time.
Although Ioane was much quieter for the Maori, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen believes he deserves his chance after two appearances off the bench last year against Italy and France. “I’d like