Reproduced with permission from Whiff of Cordite
Brian O’Driscoll was announced as Ireland captain for the November series yesterday. But, at the risk of commiting heresy, we must ask: is he the right man for the job? The answer is stil a ‘yes’, but it’s worth taking some time to think through.
Time waits for no man, as they say, and just as the clock has ticked past the point where Ronan O’Gara should be an international selection, so too it will reach the point where BOD is no longer the best 13 in the country. That day may not necessarily coincide with the day the great man retires, and could even precede it. At some point the time may come when BOD has to be left out of the Ireland team.
It’s worth casting an eye over the form-book. BOD has played poorly in Leinster’s two Heineken Cup games this season. Against Exeter he was guilty of taking insufficient care of the ball, while against Scarlets he showed a rare moment of hesitancy in defence to allow Gareth Maule to skate in for a try. Going further back, he had a fairly indistinguished summer tour in a green shirt. Casting back slightly further, he did have a stellar Heineken Cup final, with his memorable break and offload to Sean O’Brien the highlight of the match. The old magic has not disappeared.
The alternatives for the position are Ulster’s Darren Cave and in particular Keith Earls, who played well there in the Six Nations and has made little secret of his desire to play in the 13 shirt and not on the wing. The pity of it is that Earls has been injured over the past fortnight, and has missed an opportunity to put huge pressure on O’Driscoll. He had started the season with great gusto.
INPHO/Billy Stickland
Any pressure is further diluted by Rob Kearney’s absence, which is likely to see Earls deployed at full-back in any case. Kearney is close to irreplaceable (particularly keeping in mind the nature of Ireland’s opponents in this series), so taking another of Ireland’s totems out of the backline would leave Ireland looking a bit callow in that division.
BOD is the greatest player ever to pull on the green jersey, and his experience, leadership, class and nose for the tryline should not be discarded lightly. He still has much to bring to test rugby, so long as his legs are functioning. Peter O’Reilly wrote that even dead, you could strap him to his horse and send him into ranks of the enemy.
But even the greatest of men should not be picked based on what they have achieved in the past. We endorse his selection as captain for this series, but he should not be considered an automatic selection. Thirteenwatch has not gone away just yet.
As long as BOD can walk onto the pitch, he should be Captain!!
I agree with Noel – why all the red thumbs !? – O’Driscoll should be captain.
Its the whole as long as he can walk bit. Nobody is bigger than any team…
Well… I believe a captain should always be a forward. But, BOD is a talisman. While he’s fit and picked leave him b. After that… Well, there are a few outstanding candidates brewing around the provinces…
No, the best man to captain a rugby team is always a forward. My shout would be Stephen Ferris
As fine a player as he is, I don’t think Ferris is captain material
Author, have some bottle and don’t tell the reader “the answer is yes” let the reader decide for themselves. It is a valid question to ask, and I can see your reason for being a little scared no press person dares speak ill of BOD. He has earned that respect in fairness, although his game against scarlets was shocking hope his form improves soon he wont get in to the Lions team on current form, Jonathan Davies and Jamie Roberts/Tuilagi are well ahead as it is now.
A captain has to lead on and off the pitch. nRef’s listen to BOD other players listen to BOD he has earned a respect above with only PoC in the current squad to compare with. nThere is no better 13 on this island and this earls stuff does earls no favours. He’s a winger and a very very good one but at 13 his defence is average and he can’t/wont pass the ball. He wants to play 13, well I want to fly the space shuttle neither are good ideas. nAs far as a forward as captain goes every team has a pack leader so why not allow a back to lead the team as the ref will talk to pack leader and captain too, helps if ref takes a dislike to one or the other. nAs for ferris the man has never put a run of games together, every third or forth game we’d need someone to step in. Not a good idea. n