British and Irish Lions captain Peter O’Mahony knows what advice old Munster mentor Anthony Foley would have given him

Lions captain Peter O’Mahony knows what his old Munster mentor Anthony Foley would say before Saturday’s First Test against the All Blacks.

“Just be yourself,” would be the instructions from the man known as Axel, who died tragically late last year while his Munster team were in Paris to play Racing 92.

Be yourself and take what is a unique opportunity — a chance that only became a reality when Jamie Heaslip pulled his hamstring during Ireland’s warm-up ahead of their final Six Nations match against England.

Elevated to the starting XV, O’Mahony was outstanding in the 13-9 win that stopped England’s run of 18 consecutive victories, soaring high in the lineouts and immense around the field.

Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree has suggested O’Mahony was always on their radar but he became more than just a distant blip that day in Dublin. Now, O’Mahony will captain the Lions ahead of tour skipper Sam Warburton at Eden Park, a ground where the All Blacks haven’t lost since 1984.

O’Mahony said: “It’s a huge task. Obviously the calibre of the player they have, their record at Eden Park is impressive; but it’s going to be a different animal this weekend.

“There’s going to be 20-odd thousand Lions fans there. These are the games you want to be involved in. It’s where the players want to be.”

It will be his fifth Test against New Zealand and he is yet to taste victory as he was injured when Ireland upset the world champions in Chicago last year. “It’s incredible to be picked for the Lions and then to be asked to captain them is a huge honour,” O’Mahony said. “It’s down to business now. You take in the fact you are selected and now it’s on to the job.”

That job, he knows, is incredibly tough, but also very simple. Foley would have told him that.

“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 of Foley, who played 62 Tests for Ireland.

“He’d tell us there’s a reason we’ve been selected so go out and play the game that you know. There’s no point in trying to be something you’re not. You’ve been picked for a reason and he would have said, ‘Go out and play as well as you can, because there’s no one going to fault you for that.’”

No one indeed.