‘We’re not playing golf or tennis’ – O’Mahony ready to play on the edge
There may be plenty of bad blood between Ireland and Scotland but that’s likely to fade into the background today as both sides go into the final Six Nations game of 2024 with a trophy on the line.
For Ireland, two match points would be enough to secure backto-back titles and even a solitary point would likely do the trick, although they’d have to wait until the end of England’s meeting with France in that scenario.
Scotland could still win the Triple Crown with a victory in Dublin, while they retain a remote chance of winning the tournament with an unlikely result.
Captain Peter O’Mahony says the team are aware of the permutations, but they are focused on beating their bitter rivals.
Things spilled over during the World Cup meeting between the sides and O’Mahony made some disparaging remarks about the Scots after the game.
He won’t be shying away from the rivalry either.
“Well look, I think it’s a competitive game and both teams always get stuck in and that’s what you want, isn’t it, you want both teams flat out,” he said.
“And we’re not playing tennis or golf, you know what I mean? It’s a physical game, and you’ve got to get stuck in and you’ve got to be on the edge, and that’s rugby, like.”
Ireland were on course for a Grand Slam until last week’s defeat at Twickenham, but the skipper says there will be nothing diminished about this title if he is lifting the trophy tonight.
“You’re talking about back-to-back (Grand Slams) and no one has done it because it’s so hard, that’s why,” he said.
“You’ve got to win 10 championship games in a row, win five away from home. It’s unbelievably difficult to win a game away from home in this championship, if you look at the stats across the board.
“So it’s everything to us. Absolutely everything to us, another championship.”