Thursday 22 June 2017 12:32, UK
Lions skipper Peter O'Mahony says he will be thinking about the words of former Munster head coach Anthony 'Axel' Foley when he leads the tourists out for the first Test against New Zealand on Saturday.
Former Munster and Ireland number eight Foley died on October 16 last year, when the Thomond Park men were gearing up to face Racing 92 in Paris.
The death of the hugely popular coach left the province in grief and his friend O'Mahony, the Munster skipper, offered a heartfelt tribute in the aftermath.
O'Mahony now finds himself leading the Lions into battle against the world champions, tour captain Sam Warburton having only been named as a replacement.
And O'Mahony says Foley would want himself and the team to stick with what has got them to this point when they line up on Saturday.
"Axel's a rugby man, so he would have told us all 'play your game, play what you do and what you know'," said O'Mahony.
"He'd have said there's a reason there's 45 players here now who have been selected.
"So just go out and play the game you know and do what you're here to do. There's no point in trying to be something you're not over here.
"You've been picked for a reason so, if you go out and play as well as you can, no one's going to fault you for that.
"It's the Lions against the All Blacks and you have got to use everything you have had over your entire rugby career and try and use it all for Saturday,"
O'Mahony only sealed his Lions place when he came in for the injured Jamie Heaslip and produced a superb display in Ireland's 13-9 Six Nations win over England in March.
The flanker admitted he could not have predicted his captaincy even just three months ago.
"No, not at all," he remarked. "You would hope he (Foley) would be proud.
"It's been a difficult season, but you try and take as many positives out of it as you can.
"The experiences I have had and we've all had here, it's about learning and growing."
