Peter O’Mahony opens up on awkward Sam Cane reunion after ‘s— Richie McCaw’ comment
Legends for Ireland and the All Blacks, Peter O'Mahony and Sam Cane.
Peter O’Mahony has opened up on his reunion with ex-All Blacks star Sam Cane following an on-field comment which went viral three years ago.
Ireland were facing New Zealand during a three-Test series in July 2022 when he shouted at his fellow back-rower: “You’re just a s*** Richie McCaw”.
It was heard on the ref mic and quickly found its way onto social media, with it becoming one of the iconic moments of that historic Irish triumph.
Ireland-All Blacks rivalry
Andy Farrell’s men claimed a 2-1 win over the All Blacks, sparking a rivalry which would continue at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
There was certainly no love lost between the teams, and O’Mahony’s words towards Cane were arguably the catalyst for that feud.
Those two players would then meet up earlier this year when they featured together for the Barbarians, which of course drew attention.
Speculation was rife about how it would go between the pair, but the Ireland legend was not having any of the BaaBaas’ attempts to make the most of the reunion.
“The BaaBaas were trying to get us to do like me bringing him the cup of tea thing on social media – jog on,” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
O’Mahony did, however, reveal that it was a slightly awkward first meeting between the two as their accents resulted in some confusion at first.
“I met him and I said: ‘How’s the form’ like,” the 36-year-old said.
“I met him the next day, it was after training and we were on the bus. He said: ‘I’ve just figured out, I thought you were asking me how the farm was’.
“He went onto ChatGPT and typed in ‘Irish phrases, how’s the farm’. It said to him no you’ve got it wrong, ‘How’s the form’ is what he’s asking. He was like ‘Do I tell him how many cattle I have?’
“That was the problem, he has a farm. He was thinking, ‘I don’t know how to answer this fella…’”
Despite that initial interaction, O’Mahony stated that they “got on great” and admitted that the quip towards Cane in 2022 wasn’t even that good.
“That’s just the TV cameras picking stuff up. Back in the day, there were probably much wittier stuff said,” he added.
“It was actually a s*** gag when you think about it, because he (McCaw) was the greatest player of all time.”
No hard feelings
While O’Mahony stated “there’s a few f*****g idiots in the game”, what’s said on the field usually stays on the field and ex-England star James Haskell, who was also on the show, agreed.
“You would have to go some way to tell me something in the game and for me to take it seriously,” Haskell said. “The only thing I draw the line at is if someone eye-gouged me.
“The other bit about the chat… when I went on the Lions, I was eager to meet all these guys that I played against, it was much more of an excitement to actually know them.
“I’ve played against them for years, we’ve never really had a chat, I know what they’re going to think of me because I could see the body language, but I want to know what they’re like. I was more excited by that.”
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