Ireland's O'Mahony Gears Up for France Showdown

Newly-installed Ireland skipper Peter O'Mahony says performance will be "paramount" when his team takes on France in the "colossal" opening Test of the 2024 Six Nations in Marseille.

Both Ireland and France are on the rebound from quarter-final exits at the Rugby World Cup, but O'Mahony insisted thoughts were on what lay ahead rather than constantly looking in the back mirror.

"Performance is paramount. For every Test match. We're not trying to prove a point to ourselves about what happened," said O'Mahony, who was part of the Ireland team beaten in the last-eight by New Zealand.

"We're trying to prove to ourselves in performance, where the scene is at, where we want to go, setting up momentum.

"It's not about putting things right or whatever. It's about a Test match tomorrow night. That's what the occasion is, it's the most important thing for us.

"And performance is absolutely paramount. That's what everyone is here to do, be the best version of themselves. That's what we're trying to do for Ireland."

The 34-year-old Munster flanker said an opening match against a strong France team was "very exciting".

"Every opportunity you get to play for Ireland is huge, but this one seems particularly special to continue our journey on.

"What a place to do it, what a stadium, what a place to play rugby!"

O'Mahony also played down talk that the clash could well serve as a title decider between arguably the two strongest teams in the tournament.

"I don't know about that. It's the first one up for us, first one up for them. In this competition, every game is colossal and that's an understatement.

"Both of us are out there tomorrow to win the game, set ourselves up with some momentum for the rest of the campaign."