Peter O’Mahony feels a degree of embarrassment at joining Ireland’s “hugely inspirational” list of centurions and hopes even greater moments are to come as he targets Rugby World Cup glory.
Munster captain O’Mahony will become only the 10th Irishman to reach 100 caps when he lines up for Saturday’s pivotal Pool B showdown with Scotland in Paris.
John Hayes, Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and Rory Best were the first five players to achieve the feat, followed by current internationals Cian Healy, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and Keith Earls.
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O’Mahony, who made his debut against Italy in 2012, grew up idolising some of those greats and never envisaged emulating their longevity at Test level.
“I’m still kind of surprised,” he said.
“It’s almost a little bit embarrassing with the names that are ahead of me to be honest, people I grew up following and supporting, hugely inspirational characters.
“To be the 10th, it’s going to take some time to settle in. It’s nothing I ever expected or dreamed of. We all talk about having dreams but that one was way off the radar.
“I’m just trying to prepare as if it’s another Test match.
“I’m hoping there are going to be bigger moments in my career than this one – and hopefully in the near future.”
Ireland departed their group-stage base city of Tours for good on Thursday morning and will spend the remainder of the tournament in Paris.
Head coach Andy Farrell has consistently made a big deal of landmark appearances and O’Mahony’s wife, children and parents were guests at the current team hotel on the northern outskirts of the French capital.
O’Mahony, 34, concedes he is no longer physically able to keep up with younger players in training and therefore devotes his efforts to being in peak condition come match day.
Ireland will qualify for the quarter-finals, a stage they have never before gone beyond, with a win or draw at Stade de France this weekend, while a marginal defeat may also be sufficient.
Lifting the Webb Ellis Cup at the same venue in just over three weeks’ time remains the ultimate goal, with O’Mahony wary of suffering early elimination at the hands of the Scots following a statement success over South Africa.
“It’s our be-all and end-all and I’m not going to say that lightly,” he said of winning the tournament.
“Every team that makes this competition is in this country to win it and we’re no different and certainly people talking about us not being able to get past certain hurdles, this is the biggest hurdle of our tournament so far and that’s the way we’re considering it.
“We’ve had some good performances but we’re considering Scotland as the team they are: an incredible threat to our campaign and our journey.”
Visits to Paris are bittersweet for O’Mahony.
His former Munster head coach Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley died in his sleep at a hotel in the city in October 2016 ahead of the team playing against Racing 92.
“Myself and Johnny (Sexton) had a conversation about it, I think it was on the way to the South African game actually, about sometimes it is weird to be in Paris and to think about Axel and what happened,” said O’Mahony.
“It certainly is an incredibly sad memory, particularly for that Munster team who were in Paris that week.
“I’m not going to go into it now but Johnny made a couple of lovely gestures to the family afterwards but Axel is always somebody who is certainly in my head on a very regular basis and when you come to Paris he certainly comes to mind.
“I’ve the fondest memories that we had together and the amount of inspiration he gave, not to just to me, but to lots of young kids in Munster and Ireland.”
Borthwick names unchanged starting England team for Australia clash
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting team for England's match against Australia on Saturday with two changes on the bench.
England enter their second November Test looking to bounce back from their narrow 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last weekend.
Borthwick, however has elected to name the same group that started against the All Blacks, though Henry Slade will shift to inside centre, while Ollie Lawrence moves to outside centre.
Marcus Smith retains his place at fly-half while Jamie George continues to lead the side at hooker, but there is no place for Theo Dan or Ben Curry.
The pair are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme as England move from a six-two split between forwards and backs to a five-three combination.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie will make his first England appearance since November 2022 if he is introduced off the bench.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can't wait to be back at home this Saturday."
England squad in full:
George Furbank, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Ollie Sleightholme
Smith not pinning blame on Ford for England loss
Marcus Smith does not blame England's narrow defeat to New Zealand on Saturday on George Ford, despite his late missed kicks.
Ford replaced Smith, who had scored 17 points and set up England's only try in their 24-22 loss, hitting a potential match-winning penalty against the post before narrowly missing a drop goal.
England had held an eight-point advantage when Smith left the field, but Mark Tele'a's 76th-minute try before Damian McKenzie added five late points proved enough to get the All Blacks over the line.
The hosts' autumn series got off to a losing start as Ford struggled to find his clinical edge in the dying moments, but Smith does not lay any blame at his team-mate's feet.
"Sometimes that's the life of a kicker, we've all experienced that. It's part and parcel of the job," said Smith.
"I've learned so much off George. He's an unbelievable kicker, both off the tee and out of hand. It was one of those days.
"It's nothing to do with him why we didn't win the game. It's a team effort. Every kicker in the world has experienced that.
"We practise [drop-goals] as kickers every single day, but sometimes it doesn't go for you. We're all human and people miss."
Saturday marked a third consecutive narrow loss to New Zealand for England, with their last win an emphatic victory over Japan in June.
Despite that run, Smith remains confident that England can take lessons from these defeats to set themselves up for success in the future.
"International rugby is very different to the Premiership and the experiences we're experiencing now are very painful, but we'll be better for them," Smith added.
"Keep the faith. We've fallen again on the wrong side of the result, but we'll learn from it 100%.
"These experiences will tighten us as a group, and it will be worth it in the long run. We will be better for it."
England 'banging on the door' of rugby's elite, says proud Borthwick
Steve Borthwick reckons England are "banging on the door" of the elite nations after their close loss to New Zealand.
England went down 24-22 to the All Blacks in Saturday's Test match at Twickenham.
Mark Tele'a scored the decisive try for New Zealand, who beat England twice in July, in the 76th minute.
England missed the chance to win it late on when George Ford missed a drop-goal attempt, after he had struck the post with a penalty.
But coach Borthwick, who was immensely proud of his team, feels England showed they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the world, despite losing four of their last five Tests.
"It is a mixture of immense pride at the performance against a very tough New Zealand team and one of incredible disappointment," Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"They are the emotions we balance and will work through over the next few days.
"When we started two years ago we wanted to get England right to the top of world rugby again. You can see the team banging on the door."
With the pre-match build-up having been dominated by Joe Marler's jibe at New Zealand's pre-match haka routine, tries from Tele'a and Will Jordan put New Zealand in control.
Marcus Smith's penalties kept England in contention, though, and he set up the hosts' only try when he intercepted a loose pass and teed up Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Yet England ultimately failed to hold on to an eight-point advantage, with Ford having to be consoled by his team-mates after the match.
Next up for England are Australia, with fixtures against South Africa and Japan also in store.
"We really have to find a way of winning these close ones," said captain Jamie George. "We put ourselves in a really good position after 60 minutes.
"Eight points is a lot in Test match rugby but we probably went chasing the game a bit and gave away too many penalties. We have to be smarter in that respect."
England walked up to the halfway line to face the haka, something George explained was planned prior to Marler's comments.
"That was always our plan before Joe's comments but we did it in a respectful way," said George. "I saw a smile on Scott Barrett’s face, I was smiling, and it was done in good spirits."
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