Captaining your country is an undoubted honour but it can be a massive drain on energy, mental state and form. Add in the task of also captaining your own province and most would not be able to bear the work-load.
Rory Best is Ireland’s captain until he steps down from the role or is injured. Through a period of transition, English resurgence and sheer All Blacks class, he has led Ireland excellently. There are no trophies to show for it but there have been English, French Kiwi, Australian and Springbok scalps taken.
Having just turned 35, and fresh off his second Lions Tour, Best has been asked to lead Ulster through 2017/18. Proud Ulsterman that he is, Best readily accepted.
What does the appointment mean in terms of Ireland’s captain heading closer and closer to the 2019 World Cup?
Ronan O’Gara and Kevin McLaughlin discuss the pressures of captaincy, and Ireland’s best choice heading into the new season, with Andy McGeady and SportsJOE’s Pat McCarry on The Hard Yards [from 18:20 below].
“The best captains just have something about them,” says McLaughlin. “The have an aura and lads want to play for them; they want to get in behind them.”
McLaughlin played under captains Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings during his time at Leinster. One was quiet and controlled while the other was the exact opposite but both inspired by their deeds on and off the pitch.
Both McLaughlin, with Leinster, and O’Gara, with Munster and Ireland, had captaincy experience and both recall how added responsibilities like being there for the coin toss, facing the media more often, delivering post-match speeches and presentations, and meeting with referees over law changes all take away from preparing for the game itself.
Were Best to stay on as Ireland captain, his season could be one relentless parade of responsibilities, functions, speeches and handshakes. Week in, week out.
Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Johnny Sexton are alternatives but both McLaughlin and O’Gara back Best to handle the dual captaincy. O’Gara said:
“It seems like a big work-load but I was thinking that with Jono Gibbes going into Ulster [as head coach], he would readily identify with the qualities of Rory Best. He wants to put his stamp on it.
“Best will probably be the Irish captain – he will be – but Jono wants him emphasising all his qualities and being the leader of his pack. Rory’s hard, honest, direct and he has everything you’d want in a captain. He has serious qualities as a leader as well.”
Best is the right man for the job if Ulster are to put Ulster first. As for a back-row captaining Ireland on a permanent basis any time soon, O’Gara is not so sure.
“I would say it is far more likely him. An Irish captain in the back row at this current stage would be a bigger call, I would feel, with the competition for places there.”
The Ulster forward would be 37 were he to make it to his fourth World Cup, in 2019, but he appears to be the clear frontrunner to lead Ireland further down that road to Japan.
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