Peter O'Mahony reflects on retirement and shedding old rugby rituals
The former Ireland and Lions captain tells Guardian Rugby Union how he has learned to sit with his emotions after a career built on refusing to accept defeat.
Peter O'Mahony has spoken about the toll his refusal to accept losing took on him during a playing career that brought the captaincy of Munster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, according to Guardian Rugby Union.
Speaking to the paper's Donald McRae in Dublin as a new rugby season approaches, O'Mahony described the instinct as almost involuntary. "It's a natural human instinct, especially as an athlete, that you don't want to lose," he said. "But at times it got in my way and caused despair. I honestly don't know where that deep-down hatred came from but it used to derail me at times."
Now in his second year of retirement, O'Mahony comes across in the interview as a different figure from the uncompromising, taciturn presence who defined his years on the pitch. Guardian Rugby Union describes him allowing himself more complex reflections than the hard-edged focus that once carried him through matches for club and country.
McRae put it to O'Mahony that his competitive edge might have looked very different had he channelled it into something like chess or mathematics rather than rugby, a question that speaks to how deeply that need to win was woven into his identity as a player.
The wider interview, according to the source, also touches on O'Mahony's changed relationship with his own emotions, his admiration for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell as the one coach he did not regard as "a bit mad", and the pain he felt over what is described as a ruthless departure from Munster.
Guardian Rugby Union also notes O'Mahony's newfound enthusiasm for gardening, a detail that underlines just how much distance he has put between himself and the intensity of his playing days.
O'Mahony's career took in leadership roles at every level of the game, from Munster through to the Ireland captaincy and multiple Lions call-ups, making him one of the more prominent voices now able to speak candidly about life after the demands of Test and provincial rugby.