IN A PREVIOUS life (i.e: earlier this year) captaincy of the Irish rugby team was a hot button topic. Would Pete get the nod? Was it too soon for James Ryan? Or was it time to formalise Johnny Sexton’s position as creative director?
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No, yes and yes were Andy Farrell’s answers, but Covid-19 came along and both coach and captain were denied a clean run through a first campaign at the helm. But we can still look back through the archive* of the great and the few, the skippers who have led Ireland on the international stage.
See how many you can nail (taking into account that appearances as captain, for these purposes, only count from the start).
Brian O'Driscoll, by a long way, has the most appearances as captain of the Ireland rugby team. But who is second?
Willie John McBride
Rory Best
Keith Wood
Paul O'Connell
Which of these Ireland captains has not led the Lions Test side?
Peter O'Mahony
Tom Kiernan
Ciaran Fitzgerald
Keith Wood
Brian O'Driscoll led Ireland a whopping 83 times. Against what team did he score the last of his 46 tries?
Wales
England
France
Italy
Of these hardy four, who led Ireland as captain on the most occasions?
Simon Best
Reggie Corrigan
Anthony Foley
Simon Easterby
And who had the fewest outings as skipper from this selection?
Terry Kingston
David Humphreys
Mick Galwey
Willie Anderson
No shortage of leaders in the 80s. Which of these men led Ireland most often?
Donal Lenihan
Fergus Slattery
Ciaran Fitzgerald
Philip Matthews
Ronan O'Gara scored over a thousand points in 128 Tests, but how many times did he captain Ireland?
Never
Once
Twice
Ten
A big honour in any era, which of these men has captained Ireland most?
Sean O'Brien
Jack Kyle
Rhys Ruddock
Mike Gibson
The youngest ever Ireland captain was a strapping 20-year-old called John Ross in 1896. Who is the youngest man to lead Ireland in the professional era?
Peter O'Mahony
Paul O'Connell
Brian O'Driscoll
Niall Hogan
Lastly, who won more starts as captain of these four?
Jamie Heaslip
Michael Bradley
Philip Matthews
Willie John McBride
Answer all the questions to see your result!
You scored out of !
A student of the greats
Like Tony Soprano, you've been studying all the great leaders that came before like Napoleon, Patton, Wood and Crawford.
You didn't manage the ref, you didn't manage the media and the pressure of leading the side seemed to put you right off your game. Time for fresh blood.
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The great Irish rugby captains quiz
IN A PREVIOUS life (i.e: earlier this year) captaincy of the Irish rugby team was a hot button topic. Would Pete get the nod? Was it too soon for James Ryan? Or was it time to formalise Johnny Sexton’s position as creative director?
No, yes and yes were Andy Farrell’s answers, but Covid-19 came along and both coach and captain were denied a clean run through a first campaign at the helm. But we can still look back through the archive* of the great and the few, the skippers who have led Ireland on the international stage.
See how many you can nail (taking into account that appearances as captain, for these purposes, only count from the start).
*The archive is ESPN’s historical stats and any complaints should be directed their way.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
ireland captains quiz rugby quiz Tough test