Irish Captain for the remainder of the 6 Nations

Blackheath

Its Best for me

Fireball07

Best or Heaslip.


Only thing about Best is a lot of people were predicting Cronin might get a start against Scotland, so by default it would revert to Heaslip then. Unless ROG was to start...

cgpg5

Yeah Best is the man for the job imo, Rog will get it if he starts against Scotland though

questforfit

Best or Heaslip. Sexton is another contender.

phog

Best but it could be ROG. It wont be any other player on the panel.

cgpg5

questforfit wrote: »

Best or Heaslip. Sexton is another contender.

Wouldn't have put Sexton down as one of the greatest leaders tbh

Podge_irl

It won't be ROG. Kidney will want the same captain for the last two games.

Best or Heaslip. Probably Best.

Clegg

Best or Heaslip are the most likely contenders.

ROG would be a foolish call. He's not even first choice anymore.

MungBean

Clegg wrote: »

Best or Heaslip are the most likely contenders.

ROG would be a foolish call. He's not even first choice anymore.

If ROG was starting then there is nothing foolish with making him captain. We all know whoever does it is just keeping the title warm for Drico so whats it matter who it is as long as they are experienced and can do a good job of it for the one or two games where its needed.

MikeCork2009

Rob Kearney

phog

cgpg5 wrote: »

Yeah Best is the man for the job imo, Rog will get it if he starts against Scotland though

If ROG isn't going to start both games then I cant see why he'd get captain for one of the games.

questforfit

I have to say I was disappointed with POCs leadership this tournament.

It was suicidal to call a lineout to the very back on the French 22. Best had already missed a throw badly and then POC calls it to the back of the lineout? ridiculous.

manbadger

sean o brien for sure.

cgpg5

phog wrote: »

If ROG isn't going to start both games then I cant see why he'd get captain for one of the games.

Tbh I can't see anything wrong with having a different captain for both games, in fact I'd give Cronin a go at 2 for Scotland

Clegg

MungBean wrote: »

If ROG was starting then there is nothing foolish with making him captain. We all know whoever does it is just keeping the title warm for Drico so whats it matter who it is as long as they are experienced and can do a good job of it for the one or two games where its needed.

Thats the problem I have. ROG doesn't strike me as being a very good leader.

cityman 18

Stephen Ferris anyone? easily one of the best players we have at the moment.

Blackheath

cityman 18 wrote: »

Stephen Ferris anyone? easily one of the best players we have at the moment.

Ferris is playing very well and can be a leader of men

Quint2010

Got to be TOL..:D

Cpt_Blackbeard

We've no real obvious candidate to step up. Best would have the obvious one had he kept up his WC form and not decided to shít himself at the lineout yesterday. After that you're starting to look at Heaslip but, he's better off concentrating on his own game and trying to maintain some good form. Then there is ROG, but he's never been a great leader.

Any other captains in the squad?

MLC61

I think it will be Best for the English game - he's likely to be rested for the Scottish game.

BY a process of elimination that leaves only Heaslip for the Scottish game.

Having said that, he will start against England also so he may be captain for both.

thomond2006

Best has always been an important leader within the current Ireland setup, Kidney mentioned him as a team leader even when he was behind Flannery in 2009.

Cardinal Richelieu

Just throwing this one out there, but why not the captain of the Dirt Trackers on the last Lions tour.

Teferi

cgpg5 wrote: »

Wouldn't have put Sexton down as one of the greatest leaders tbh

Sexton can be a pretty big voice in the dressing room apparently. Look at the post-match interviews of the HC final last year, a good few of the players said it.

I still wouldn't have him anywhere near the captaincy though. He has enough pressure on him in other areas of the game.

cityman 18 wrote: »

Stephen Ferris anyone? easily one of the best players we have at the moment.

While I have no doubt Fez would perform admirably as captain you don't make someone captain just because they are one of the in form players at the moment.

The obvious choice is Best or Heaslip.

GerM

Have been up to my neck this afternoon. Logged on here and saw topic title and thought "POC's our captain, this is pathetic...."!

Shocked to hear he's out for the tournament. Massive blow. Will be interesting to see how things play out now in terms of selection. Ryan and DOC were far from impressive as a partnership last season. I'd be very much an advocate of making a clean break and partnering Tuohy and Ryan. Just go for it but it won't happen.

Best will be captain. Anything else would be a massive surprise. ROG isn't in the side and, if he starts against Scotland, it will be just throwing him a start to give him a run out. He doesn't handle the captaincy well. He captained Ireland away in Twickenham in 2008 and Barbarians at home in Thomond which we both lost. Heaslip is an outside bet but hasn't a massive amount of experience captaining Leinster. Best is the logical choice by a mile.

GerM

Blackheath wrote: »

Ferris is playing very well and can be a leader of men

Ferris is playing brilliantly and is a go to man but, not to be churlish, he's not the sharp thinker I would like in our captain.

cgpg5

Regardless, we'll have a better captain and leader on the pitch than England do..

Cardinal Richelieu

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Any other captains in the squad?

Donnacha O'Callaghan

RoundBox11

Pointless Thread.

Theres no way POC will lose the captaincy.

Hypothetically tho, it would probably be Heaslip.


Edit: Apologies! Just saw that POC is out on RTE news. My mistake :P

Teferi

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Pointless Thread.

Theres no way POC will lose the captaincy.

Hypothetically tho, it would probably be Heaslip.

You obviously haven't heard that POC is out for the rest of the 6 Nations.

GerM

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Pointless Thread.

Theres no way POC will lose the captaincy.

Hypothetically tho, it would probably be Heaslip.

I almost made the same mistake. Read the news. POC is out for 3-6 weeks.

cgpg5

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Pointless Thread.

Theres no way POC will lose the captaincy.

Hypothetically tho, it would probably be Heaslip.

It is expected POC will be dropped for the remainder of the campaign though :rolleyes:

leeroybrown

Best and if he's not going to play most of the remaining game time Heaslip. They're both experienced guys with cool heads and they're both forwards so they should be close to the ref around most of the major decisions.

manbadger

without doubt ,ferris is one of our top performers at the moment however captaincy can weigh heavily on some players shoulders.i don't think heaslip is in form at the moment (i know he won turn over ball in 79th min vs france) and therefore it may be wrong to give it to him.if rog was to start then he will be kidneys choice.sexton defense alone has him ahead of rog though.the scottish back row are playing as a very good unit and i feel rog would be targeted.for me it's sean o brien or kearney so.sean has led leinster in rabo/magners and was well respected by his teammates.kearney is inspirational at the minute.thoughts..

twinytwo

Best end of

The way he has been playing at and since the wc he well deserves it.

twinytwo

GerM wrote: »

Have been up to my neck this afternoon. Logged on here and saw topic title and thought "POC's our captain, this is pathetic...."!

Shocked to hear he's out for the tournament. Massive blow. Will be interesting to see how things play out now in terms of selection. Ryan and DOC were far from impressive as a partnership last season. I'd be very much an advocate of making a clean break and partnering Tuohy and Ryan. Just go for it but it won't happen.

Best will be captain. Anything else would be a massive surprise. ROG isn't in the side and, if he starts against Scotland, it will be just throwing him a start to give him a run out. He doesn't handle the captaincy well. He captained Ireland away in Twickenham in 2008 and Barbarians at home in Thomond which we both lost. Heaslip is an outside bet but hasn't a massive amount of experience captaining Leinster. Best is the logical choice by a mile.

We got spanked that day.... nothing to do with ROG being captain really.

leeroybrown

I think any suggestions of a full back or wing being captain should be ruled out immediately. No matter how good a leader the player is their field position just puts them too far away from the referee to have the subtle impact on them a captain should have.

GerM

twinytwo wrote: »

We got spanked that day.... nothing to do with ROG being captain really.

Very true but it was more a result that's indicative of how his captaining career has gone more than anything. He was captain for the one Lions midweek game they didn't win and for two Irish defeats. It just doesn't seem to go well when he's captain generally and he doesn't seem to perform particularly well himself with the mantle. I think Munster realised that themselves last season and didn't give him the captaincy in POC's absence. Outhalves have enough on their plate without the captaincy.

RoundBox11

Teferi wrote: »

You obviously haven't heard that POC is out for the rest of the 6 Nations.

GerM wrote: »

I almost made the same mistake. Read the news. POC is out for 3-6 weeks.

Ooops!! Sorry my mistake. Very relevant thread in that case!!

tolosenc

Heaslip or Best are head an shoulders above the rest for this one.

irishbucsfan

I think it'll be a close race between any of the following:

Scott Deasy, Doug Howlett, Denis Hurley, Johne Murphy, Simon Zebo, Danny Barnes, Will Chambers, Tom Gleeson, Keith Earls, Lifeimi Mafi, Ronan O'Gara, Ian Keatley, Tomas O'Leary, Conor Murray, Duncan Williams, Peter Stringer, Denis Fogarty, Damien Varley, Michael Sherry, Sean Henry, Marcus Horan, John Hayes, Stephen Archer, Wian du Preez, BJ Botha, John Ryan, Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan, Michael O'Driscoll, Ian Nagle, Donnacha Ryan, Niall Ronan, Billy Holland, Tommy O'Donnell, Peter O'Mahony, Dave O'Callaghan, Denis Leamy, James Coughlan.

Eoin

I always say this in these threads, but the captain is sometimes a player who might not be an obvious choice to those outside the extended squad - for example Rory Best / Simon Easterby.

A brilliant player might not be a good captain, and the same goes for someone who can make a good speech before the game or at half time. There's plenty of room for players who can do that without having to make them captain.

jm08

GerM wrote: »

Very true but it was more a result that's indicative of how his captaining career has gone more than anything. He was captain for the one Lions midweek game they didn't win and for two Irish defeats. It just doesn't seem to go well when he's captain generally and he doesn't seem to perform particularly well himself with the mantle. I think Munster realised that themselves last season and didn't give him the captaincy in POC's absence. Outhalves have enough on their plate without the captaincy.

o'gara was heineken cup captain for the qualifying rounds for when munster won the heineken cup in '08. and that was after a terrible world cup.

think people are a bit harsh on those who captain the team because that usually means you are missing your 2 best players (brian o'driscoll and paul o'connell) and are really on a hiding to nowhere.

Quint2010

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

We've no real obvious candidate to step up. Best would have the obvious one had he kept up his WC form and not decided to shít himself at the lineout yesterday. After that you're starting to look at Heaslip but, he's better off concentrating on his own game and trying to maintain some good form. Then there is ROG, but he's never been a great leader.

Any other captains in the squad?

It would be Best but Kidney may have had plans to rest him for the Scots game. I also think he had plans to start ROG for that game so I would not be at all surprised if he made him captain. For me though it should be Heaslip.

durkadurka

Heaslip has a 100% record on his relatively few occasions as Leinster captain

Sindri

It would have to be Best. He's in good form and is already the captain of his province. He's seems very mature and sensible as well.

CatFromHue

Joking apart it has to be DOC!

:-)

RoundBox11

Is Best still the captain of Ulster though? I thought Muller had taken over that role. Given the extra pressure thats going to be on the lineout i cant see Best being rested in place of cronin. And given the fact that Best will be under extra pressure against Gray/Hamilton/Kellock and with POC out, i cant see him being heaped with the responsibility of being captain aswell..... I reckon it'll be Heaslip, or as a very long shot O'Mahony.....

Eoin

Remember that BOD isn't the Leinster captain either though!

Best is an established leader in the Irish squad, I don't think it would be a problem for him.

Best, any one of our backrow after that

Simple

danthefan

Has to be Best, he's the outstanding candidate. Can remember a while someone doing an interview and mentioning himself, ROG, POC and BOD were part of a senior players grounp. POC and BOD are injured, ROG isn't worth a start anymore, so that leaves Best.

Benny Cake

Hope Best gets the nod. He's been in great form for club & country & fully deserves the honour...