Ireland lock Paul O’Connell is set to be announced as captain of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa when coach Ian McGeechan reveals his squad on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old has been reported in several sections of the British media to have seen off the challenge of Ireland teammate and gifted centre Brian O’Driscoll in the race for the captaincy.
O’Driscoll, whose time as Lions captain on the ill-fated tour of New Zealand four years ago was cut short just minutes into the first Test by a controversial tackle from then All Black skipper
Tana Umaga, led Ireland to their first Grand Slam in 61 years this season.
But O’Connell more than played his part in the triumph and McGeechan has form when it comes to handing the Lions captaincy to a player who is not the skipper of his national side.
The Lions last won a series in 1997, when, then as now, McGeechan was their coach and South Africa were the reigning world champions, the Scot selected lock Martin Johnson, who had yet to become England captain, as the man to lead the side against the Springboks.
And McGeechan’s old coaching colleague Jim Telfer was in no doubt about who would be captaining the Lions in South Africa this year.
”Ian will go with O’Connell. O’Driscoll is an inspirational player, an outstanding player,” said Telfer. ”But when I watch Ireland it looks to me as though O’Connell and O’Gara run the team.
”O’Driscoll doesn’t come across in the media as a hard bastard.
I know he does in the games, you couldn’t question that, but in public he’s very easy going,” the Scottish rugby great said.
”You want somebody to sit there grim-faced and mean. That’s what Johnson did,” Telfer explained.
McGeechan, who starred for the Lions as a player during their 1974 series win in South Africa under the captaincy of another inspirational Ireland lock in Willie John McBride, gave a clue several months ago by saying: ”It’s your pack that sets the tone. If there isn’t an obvious captain there I won’t force one.
”But if there is, then I think it has merit,” he said.
While O’Connell and O’Driscoll seem assured of their places, the same cannot be said for the likes of the captains of the three other constituent countries with England lock Steve Borthwick,
Wales back-row Ryan Jones and Scotland scrumhalf Mike Blair by no means guaranteed spots for the 10-match tour starting on May 30,
which features three Tests against the Springboks.
Ireland’s form in completing a clean sweep of a Six Nations seems set to be reflected in the make-up of the squad announced by McGeechan and tour manager Gerald Davies.
Nevertheless, there remains a feeling this Lions squad could be short of ”stardust”, that ability to create something from nothing as demonstrated a dozen years ago in South Africa by England scrumhalf Matt Dawson and in McGeechan’s own playing days by Wales stand-off great Phil Bennett.
But the likes of talented Wales duo Gavin Henson and James Hook now seem set to miss out through injury and a lack of Test match time respectively while the injury-plagued Jonny Wilkinson’s hopes
of a Lions berth disappeared several months ago when McGeechan made it clear that anyone selected must be fully fit.
As for Danny Cipriani, who plays under McGeechan at Wasps, the jury remains out. He may be worth a gamble if only as a squad option even though Johnson, now the England manager, left him out of the Six Nations.
The same goes for the fly-half’s versatile Wasps teammate Josh Lewsey, who retired from England duty after being omitted from the November international programme.
Davies, widely regarded as one of rugby union’s greatest wings and a star of the 1971 Lions squad which triumphed in New Zealand, said creating the right team spirit was vital if they were to win their first Test series since 1997 after defeats by Australia (2001) and New Zealand (2005).
”That’s the biggest challenge of all for a manager, to ensure the team spirit exists,” Wales legend Davies told the Times in London on Monday.
”When it works, there’s nothing quite like it, it’s wonderful.”
Four years ago then Lions boss Sir Clive Woodward was criticised for having made up his mind too far in advance when it came to selecting his Test team.
Davies is determined to avoid a repeat, saying: ”Every player who goes on the tour must believe he has a chance of getting into the Test team … There will be hard decisions on the tour which every player must accept but they must believe they have a chance, otherwise why should they be there?” – AFP
