Rúaidhrí O’Connor: Peter O’Mahony to retain his spot – but how much longer can he keep Ryan Baird at bay?

Ireland captain must deliver against Scots or doubts will grow

Peter O’Mahony, left, and Iain Henderson during an Ireland training session at the Sports Ireland Campus in Dublin. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Rúaidhrí O’Connor

Peter O’Mahony’s face is often a window into the soul of this Irish team, and when the television footage cut to the sin-binned skipper in the 62nd minute of Saturday’s defeat at Twickenham, he bore a look of anguish and frustration.

The yellow card he coughed up in the moments before Ben Earl’s try was not the winning and losing of the game, yet it summed up a day when Ireland always seemed to be chasing their hosts and left the team in a bit of a hole just as coach Andy Farrell was about to send in his bench.