Former Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony believes there are sections of the side’s support who need “a bit of perspective” after this month’s loss to New Zealand.
Andy Farrell’s side were beaten 26-13 by the All Blacks in Chicago to start their autumn series, before putting an unconvincing first-half performance behind them to eventually overpower Japan on Saturday.
Reaction to the Soldier Field defeat, coupled with the side surrendering their Six Nations crown to France this year, has led to questions regarding the side’s direction heading towards the 2027 World Cup.
Speaking on the BBC’s Rugby Social podcast with Conor Murray, O’Mahony said the discourse around the team needs to “calm down”.
Ireland did not win a Test match against the All Blacks until 2016 and, in O’Mahony’s first year as an international in 2012, a 3-0 series whitewash in New Zealand included a 60-0 humbling in Hamilton.
“It’s kind of ironic at the moment because people are asking me about the current Irish team and what’s going on,” he told the podcast.
“It’s funny [where] the state of mind of an Irish rugby supporter has gone from me starting my career, or say even five or six years before that, to now saying there must be something big wrong with Ireland if we’ve lost to the All Blacks.”
When reflecting on how expectations have changed, O’Mahony believes the media narrative around the team plays into the general sentiment.
“(In 2012), we got absolutely hockeyed over there, we’d never beaten them. You break the mould in 2016 and then all of a sudden we beat them five out of 10 times. Now when we lose to them, people are going, ‘oh there’s a big problem with the Irish rugby team’.
“I think it should be a bit of perspective from Irish rugby fans in general, calm down a bit.
“They can be hysterical at times, you know what I mean? Part of that is the media.”
