2024 HAS BEEN quite the year for Caelan Doris and his captaincy skills.
It was New Year’s Day when he did the job for the first time as a senior professional player, leading Leinster out for their URC clash with Ulster. It didn’t go very well for Doris as Leinster lost to their inter-provincial rivals at the RDS.
Doris admitted afterwards that he struggled in his interactions with referee Frank Murphy. The Leinster skipper queried both of Ulster’s opening two tries but he was wrong on both counts.
“I annoyed him a little bit doing that and struggled a little bit from there,” was Doris’ reflection.
With that experience in mind, Doris batted away suggestions that he might be in consideration as the new Ireland captain for the Six Nations following Johnny Sexton’s retirement after the World Cup.
Although Doris had been added to Ireland’s leadership group in 2023, he felt that the likes of Peter O’Mahony, James Ryan, and Garry Ringrose were ahead of him in the pecking order.
It was O’Mahony who Andy Farrell picked to take over from Sexton for this year’s Six Nations but he clearly viewed Doris as the longer-term successor, with the Mayo man leading Ireland for the first time in their win over Italy when O’Mahony was injured.
That clash with the Italians was another big learning experience for Doris, who later revealed that he had been stressed by the captaincy, doubting himself and not staying in the present as he thought too much about the bigger picture. Ireland won and Doris played well but it was another key stepping stone.
As he continued to get stints as skipper at the end of games when O’Mahony was replaced, Doris vowed to be more relaxed next time he was the starting captain.
It helped Doris’ development as a captain that Ryan and Ringrose missed a chunk of Leinster’s season after the Six Nations, allowing the number eight to take on the role for some big games. Indeed, Doris was the starting captain for their entire Champions Cup knock-out run, including the final against Toulouse.
Not only did Doris prove himself to be Leinster’s captain, leading to him taking over permanently ahead of this season after Ryan and Ringrose had been co-captains last season, but Farrell was also more convinced than ever that Doris could do the job for Ireland.
O’Mahony retained the Ireland captaincy for the summer tour to South Africa but Doris was the starting skipper for the second Test when Farrell dropped the Cork man to the bench following the first-Test defeat.
It’s worth remembering how things had gone in the first Test after O’Mahony was replaced. Doris took over as captain and almost immediately found himself in referee Luke Pearce’s bad books.
Pearce was curt with Doris on several occasions and told him not to keep asking about decisions. Speaking after the game, Doris rather diplomatically said he needed to keep working on picking his battles with referees but Ireland’s coaches were frustrated with how Pearce had interacted with him.
“We thought that Caelan handled himself incredibly well,” said Ireland assistant Simon Easterby a few days before the second Test as Doris prepared to take over from O’Mahony.
Things went much better for Doris with referee Karl Dickson in the second Test, although he was sin-binned for a croc roll on Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx, having to watch anxiously from the touchline for 10 minutes.
When he was on the pitch, Doris was outstanding. That has generally been the case during Farrell’s time in charge. It shouldn’t always be that a team’s best player is automatically the captain but they should be one of the leading performers. Setting the standards and leading by example are crucial for any captain.
“Be the best version of yourself, that’s the best form of leadership,” is how Farrell puts it.
Doris’ all-action approach meant he was always likely to be in the mix for captaincy roles. He was the Ireland U20s skipper and though it took a little time for Leinster to see him as their man, he is still only 26.
The Lacken man is a ferocious battler of a player but he is also a calm presence and a popular, respected team-mate. He’s an intelligent, thoughtful, and likeable person.
Doris has a degree in psychology and is studying part-time for a master’s in applied neuroscience through King’s College in London. His older brother, Rian, did the same master’s before him and is now the CEO of a company called the Flow Research Collective in the USA, a “peak performance research and training institute.”
Their parents, Rachel and Chris, are both psychotherapists so matters of the mind are a family preoccupation. Doris does weekly therapy sessions and practices mindfulness.
One has to think that this kind of background helps Doris with his rugby leadership, although he’s pointed out before that it’s important not to overthink things.
When he got the gig for the second Test against South Africa, the Leinster man said he felt much more comfortable than had been the case before the Italy game in the Six Nations.
And it does appear that Doris has taken on the responsibility with relative ease in a short space of time. These are still early days – the “infancy” of Doris’ life as a captain, as Farrell said in July – and there are sure to be more lessons. Even the most experienced captains can get on the wrong side of referees and have bad days.
While much of Doris’ impact as captain will be invisible to those outside the group, a more obvious challenge will be his relentlessness at the breakdown. Doris is a menacing presence in this area, always pushing the boundaries with his contesting for turnovers.
Getting the balance right and staying legal will be more important than ever but the last thing Leinster or Ireland would want is the captaincy in any way dulling Doris’ ferocious competitiveness.
Doris has the world-class ability and mental characteristics to be a big success as Ireland skipper for years to come. While Farrell faced a challenging decision about the captaincy back in January, injury to O’Mahony means a no-brainer for these autumn Tests.
Having taken on the Leinster and Ireland captaincies, it would be no surprise if he ends up leading the Lions next year too. This is Caelan Doris’ time.
