Brilliant O'Mahony one liner sums up Irish emotion ahead of Scottish match

Now an Irish test centurion, Munster captain Peter O’Mahony will go down as one of the best players to ever pull on the green jersey.

Renowned for his doggedness, immense workout rate and world-class line-out ability, O’Mahony has been the heartbeat of Irish Rugby for the past decade.

Once again, the backrow was to the fore for Ireland as they saw off Scotland 36 – 14 to top Pool B at the Rugby World Cup.

Impervious on the eve of his 100th test cap, O’Mahony spoke of how much the landmark achievement meant to him.

“I thought I was going to be all over the place with nerves, but it was an incredibly enjoyable week. I just thanked them (the team) for the effort they put in tonight. It was off the wall.”

As has been the case with the Irish and Scottish rivalry over the past while, there was plenty of bite in last night’s fixture despite the scoreline.

Plenty Of Niggle

Encapsulating the emotion, a sizeable scuffle kicked off just one minute into the second half.

Sparked by Scotland fullback Ollie Smith tripping Irish captain Johnny Sexton.

The incident would see all of the players become involved, with Pierre Schoeman shoving Dan Sheehan over the advertising boards.

Smith would be shown a yellow card for the incident, and Ireland would score ironically through Sheehan one minute later.

Prior to the fixture, Scotland knew they would need an all-time performance for the ages to progress to the next round.

Pre-Match Talk

Speaking in the media during the week, Scottish fullback Blair Kinghorn, who was making his 50th appearance for Scotland, highlighted the confidence in the Scottish team.

“They have been on a good run of form recently, but we’ll end that on Saturday,” he said.

Clearly, these comments were noted by the Irish camp; as O’Mahony was asked about the niggly moments in the match, he said, “That’s part and parcel of rugby. It’s a physical game.

“You know they were in the press beforehand saying they were going to knock us off our winning streak.

“And you know how they had figured us out and worked us out, and I don’t think they did tonight.” He concluded.

Ireland will now face New Zealand at the Stade de France in what will be a mouth-watering quarterfinal match-up.