Who,will replace Paul O'Connell as captain of the Irish side

[Oldschool]

Give the job to Heaslip for the next two seasons and then appoint a new captain.
I'd add also that the Ireland captain should not be a provincial captain concurrently.
This would be part of succession planning.
So in effect if a provincial captain is given the Ireland gig, then the province has to appoint a new captain.

[simonokeeffe]

Previous 2 posters are right, we dont have to appoint one now

We wont be starting a 2019 revolution just yet so Heaslip, as logical interim choice, perfect candidate to steer the ship as do initial bits of succession both in personnel and playing style

[meathman3]

wouldn't have Heaslip as captain partly because he is not a natural leader and more than anything needs replacing by a more dynamic 8 like CJ Stander etc

Peter O'Mahony would be a possibility but i would say Kearney is the most suitable - he is internationally respected, diplomatic and pretty much guaranteed selection
popular with the younger contingent and excellent coummunicatior As for being too far from the scrum - POM or SOB could fulfill that role the way POC used to for BOD

[simonokeeffe]

wouldn't have Heaslip as captain partly because he is not a natural leader and more than anything needs replacing by a more dynamic 8 like CJ Stander etc

Peter O'Mahony would be a possibility but i would say Kearney is the most suitable - he is internationally respected, diplomatic and pretty much guaranteed selection
popular with the younger contingent and excellent coummunicatior As for being too far from the scrum - POM or SOB could fulfill that role the way POC used to for BOD

Kearney though is also one of those where it isn't black or white that they'll make the world cup on age/injury profile

Heaslip has done a fairly successful job captaining Leinster, 80 minute player unlike his main rival now Best (with POM out of 6n), captained Ireland before

[jimbobjoe]

wouldn't have Heaslip as captain partly because he is not a natural leader and more than anything needs replacing by a more dynamic 8 like CJ Stander etc

Peter O'Mahony would be a possibility but i would say Kearney is the most suitable - he is internationally respected, diplomatic and pretty much guaranteed selection
popular with the younger contingent and excellent coummunicatior As for being too far from the scrum - POM or SOB could fulfill that role the way POC used to for BOD

Unless you've been part of the squad at any time (as player or otherwise) you can't say that Heaslip isn't a natural leader; that's your perception from afar. Frankly you have no idea what he's like as a leader.. and neither do I for that matter.

[CiaranIrl]

I have to say, I was annoyed in the stadium after the try they scored at 26-20 to go to 33-20, that the team just stood in a long line, looking downcast and beaten. Heaslip should have had them in a huddle, pumping them up. Then after the next try, he did bring them into a huddle, but by that stage it was pointless.

It doesn't follow that he's not a good captain - that's for people that are much closer, but it did look bad, and pissed me off if I'm honest.

[janeymac08]

Previous 2 posters are right, we dont have to appoint one now

We wont be starting a 2019 revolution just yet so Heaslip, as logical interim choice, perfect candidate to steer the ship as do initial bits of succession both in personnel and playing style

Problem with that is since Heaslip only plays No. 8, it blocks the development of another No. 8.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I have to say, I was annoyed in the stadium after the try they scored at 26-20 to go to 33-20, that the team just stood in a long line, looking downcast and beaten. Heaslip should have had them in a huddle, pumping them up. Then after the next try, he did bring them into a huddle, but by that stage it was pointless.

It doesn't follow that he's not a good captain - that's for people that are much closer, but it did look bad, and pissed me off if I'm honest.

Said this already but he didn't really talk to Garces during the game. He should have been in his ear about the potential red card and the deliberate knock on. If it was another ref like Barnes then I could understand but Garces is great for chatting to players.

[Golf Man]

I don't think you can look at 2019 when talking about captains - the captain has to be a certainty to be in the team first and foremost - 4 years is a huge amount of time - who is most likely to be in the team in 4 years time

Henshaw, Murray, Henderson, POM, McGrath would seem like the most obvious to me - POM stands out a mile as the most obvious captain from that lot but he also stands out as the guy likely to have the most competition in the backrow

Either way I think we should look to the short term first - no problem with Best, POM or Heaslip - I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all.

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - we can be pretty sure that POC was a great captain (as much from what guys like Monye and Williams said about him from the Lions). Heaslip doesn't seem to talk all that much to refs and sometimes doesn't appear to me to be leading on the pitch - could just be the style and everyone is hapopy with that - but with Wood, POC and BOD youalsways knew who the captain - just by looking at the interactiona nd attitude on the pitch - I doin't see that with healsip

If they decide to llok long term then it kind of has to be POM, Henshaw or Murray imo

[simonokeeffe]

I don't think you can look at 2019 when talking about captains - the captain has to be a certainty to be in the team first and foremost - 4 years is a huge amount of time - who is most likely to be in the team in 4 years time

Henshaw, Murray, Henderson, POM, McGrath would seem like the most obvious to me - POM stands out a mile as the most obvious captain from that lot but he also stands out as the guy likely to have the most competition in the backrow

Either way I think we should look to the short term first - no problem with Best, POM or Heaslip - I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all.

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - we can be pretty sure that POC was a great captain (as much from what guys like Monye and Williams said about him from the Lions). Heaslip doesn't seem to talk all that much to refs and sometimes doesn't appear to me to be leading on the pitch - could just be the style and everyone is hapopy with that - but with Wood, POC and BOD youalsways knew who the captain - just by looking at the interactiona nd attitude on the pitch - I doin't see that with healsip

If they decide to llok long term then it kind of has to be POM, Henshaw or Murray imo

doesnt look like POM will make 6 nations so that rules him out

medium or long term I dont think it will be a Leinster player because of politics (maybe squad unity) if nothing else, Head Coach, Manager, Scrum coach, Kicking Coach all Leinster

[CiaranIrl]

I don't think you can look at 2019 when talking about captains - the captain has to be a certainty to be in the team first and foremost - 4 years is a huge amount of time - who is most likely to be in the team in 4 years time

Henshaw, Murray, Henderson, POM, McGrath would seem like the most obvious to me - POM stands out a mile as the most obvious captain from that lot but he also stands out as the guy likely to have the most competition in the backrow

Either way I think we should look to the short term first - no problem with Best, POM or Heaslip - I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all.

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - we can be pretty sure that POC was a great captain (as much from what guys like Monye and Williams said about him from the Lions). Heaslip doesn't seem to talk all that much to refs and sometimes doesn't appear to me to be leading on the pitch - could just be the style and everyone is hapopy with that - but with Wood, POC and BOD youalsways knew who the captain - just by looking at the interactiona nd attitude on the pitch - I doin't see that with healsip

If they decide to llok long term then it kind of has to be POM, Henshaw or Murray imo

Sean O'Brien needs to be mentioned in all this. He'll be 32 at the next world cup, and barring injury cutting his time short, he'll be in the team. Definitely strikes me as a leader. Only question mark is whether his hips will hold him together.

[hugonaut]

I don't think you can look at 2019 when talking about captains - the captain has to be a certainty to be in the team first and foremost - 4 years is a huge amount of time - who is most likely to be in the team in 4 years time

Henshaw, Murray, Henderson, POM, McGrath would seem like the most obvious to me - POM stands out a mile as the most obvious captain from that lot but he also stands out as the guy likely to have the most competition in the backrow

Either way I think we should look to the short term first - no problem with Best, POM or Heaslip - I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all.

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - we can be pretty sure that POC was a great captain (as much from what guys like Monye and Williams said about him from the Lions). Heaslip doesn't seem to talk all that much to refs and sometimes doesn't appear to me to be leading on the pitch - could just be the style and everyone is hapopy with that - but with Wood, POC and BOD youalsways knew who the captain - just by looking at the interactiona nd attitude on the pitch - I doin't see that with healsip

If they decide to llok long term then it kind of has to be POM, Henshaw or Murray imo

O'Mahony certainly captures people's imagination. That sounds quite jaundiced, but it's meant in a positive way. People outside the Irish set-up already seem to regard him as a leader, despite the fact that he's one of the least capped players in the pack [ahead of Dev and nobody else, unless you include Jack McGrath ahead of Cian Healy].

I have to say that I've got my doubts about both his durability and his tackling as a blindside. There are a lot of good parts to his game, but the tackling one is a huge deal for me. I know fans of his on the board object to me bringing it up time and again, but tackling is to a blindside what box-kicking is to a scrum-half, i.e. a real tenet of the position. If he improved his tackling height, his ability to tackle on both shoulders and his tackle count, I'd stop moaning about it!

The durability issue might seem unwarranted given that he has been available for selection for a lot of caps, but I really got the feeling that he was protecting his left shoulder all the way through the tournament. It definitely took away from his work at the breakdown and ruck in the Canada and Italy games, where he was one of our least effective forwards in the starting eight. I haven't had time to look at the French game since coming home, so it'll be interesting to see how he went in that one. He was certainly very noticeable around the park and at the lineout, but that doesn't always correlate to a strong performance at the breakdown [of which there are frequently 180+ in a test match].

All told, he actually only played about 204 of a possible 400 mins of rugby in the tournament, between being rested, injured and sin-binned. I think that's a bit of an issue with regards to being a potential captain, though not a deal breaker necessarily. It might be that the surgery and recuperation time for his knee injury [an injury which can happen to anyone at practically anytime in a contact sport, so while unfortunate, not emblematic of a bigger issue] allow him to address some other lingering injuries and come back much closer to 100% than he looked at RWC15.

[janeymac08]

Schmidt continually overlooked Heaslip for the Leinster captaincy with an aging Cullen. He was overlooked even for the vice-captaincy for Jennings. Schmidt then dropped him for POC when he was fit again (and don't even try and say that was a provincial politics - otherwise, Rory Best would have been captaining the team last weekend).

Heislip just isn't captaincy material and whatever about POM being hotheaded, SOB is worse.

[meathman3]

- I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all. - check out All-Blacks vs Ireland 2013 [quote][/quote]

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - inside line = Kearney and Best the most respected players in the squad

[All Blacks nil]

I don't think you can look at 2019 when talking about captains - the captain has to be a certainty to be in the team first and foremost - 4 years is a huge amount of time - who is most likely to be in the team in 4 years time

Henshaw, Murray, Henderson, POM, McGrath would seem like the most obvious to me - POM stands out a mile as the most obvious captain from that lot but he also stands out as the guy likely to have the most competition in the backrow

Either way I think we should look to the short term first - no problem with Best, POM or Heaslip - I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all.

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - we can be pretty sure that POC was a great captain (as much from what guys like Monye and Williams said about him from the Lions). Heaslip doesn't seem to talk all that much to refs and sometimes doesn't appear to me to be leading on the pitch - could just be the style and everyone is hapopy with that - but with Wood, POC and BOD youalsways knew who the captain - just by looking at the interactiona nd attitude on the pitch - I doin't see that with healsip

If they decide to llok long term then it kind of has to be POM, Henshaw or Murray imo

O'Mahony certainly captures people's imagination. That sounds quite jaundiced, but it's meant in a positive way. People outside the Irish set-up already seem to regard him as a leader, despite the fact that he's one of the least capped players in the pack [ahead of Dev and nobody else, unless you include Jack McGrath ahead of Cian Healy].

I have to say that I've got my doubts about both his durability and his tackling as a blindside. There are a lot of good parts to his game, but the tackling one is a huge deal for me. I know fans of his on the board object to me bringing it up time and again, but tackling is to a blindside what box-kicking is to a scrum-half, i.e. a real tenet of the position. If he improved his tackling height, his ability to tackle on both shoulders and his tackle count, I'd stop moaning about it!

The durability issue might seem unwarranted given that he has been available for selection for a lot of caps, but I really got the feeling that he was protecting his left shoulder all the way through the tournament. It definitely took away from his work at the breakdown and ruck in the Canada and Italy games, where he was one of our least effective forwards in the starting eight. I haven't had time to look at the French game since coming home, so it'll be interesting to see how he went in that one. He was certainly very noticeable around the park and at the lineout, but that doesn't always correlate to a strong performance at the breakdown [of which there are frequently 180+ in a test match].

All told, he actually only played about 204 of a possible 400 mins of rugby in the tournament, between being rested, injured and sin-binned. I think that's a bit of an issue with regards to being a potential captain, though not a deal breaker necessarily. It might be that the surgery and recuperation time for his knee injury [an injury which can happen to anyone at practically anytime in a contact sport, so while unfortunate, not emblematic of a bigger issue] allow him to address some other lingering injuries and come back much closer to 100% than he looked at RWC15.

Regarding the amount of caps won, BOD captained Ireland for a long spell in 2002 (Keith Wood injured) on his 23rd cap and was appointed permanently as captain for his 48th cap. POM has won 35 caps and is full time captain of his province

Regarding reviewing his play v France, Murray Kinsella has saved you the bother.
http://www.the42.ie/ireland-peter-omaho ... 6-Oct2015/
and
http://www.the42.ie/ireland-rucks-franc ... 4-Oct2015/

[olaf the fat]

One thing for sure however is the captain, they will have big shoes to fill. Is there anybody that is up to that job?
With POC finishing he just adds to the list of inspirational leaders we have had. Look how other teams find problems replacing iconic figures - England are still trying to replace Martin Johnson as captain!
In recent times we have had Wood, BOD and Paulie with the likes of Foley, Galway, Cullen and Humphreys filling the gaps.

I'm always surprised by some peoples dislike of Heaslip, albeit most of the dislike seems to come from the south. Not liking somebody is not a valid ground to declare them as "not captaincy material". Yet any players you hear interviewed have great respect for Heaslip, and do rate him as a leader. Somebody has the wrong assessment, I'd go with the players on the pitch not the fans in the stand.

Anyway. We have captains and vice captains, provincial captains, leaders etc throughout the team. Often the "captain" wont still be on the field in the last few minutes - up steps one of our other leaders. So the work of leading is spread between several players, what is the role the official captain needs to better than any other player? Best coin tosser maybe?

[Golf Man]

- I don't think it should be Kearney - a full back would want to be a really really good captain to be justified in the role - I don't see that in Kearney at all. - check out All-Blacks vs Ireland 2013

As others have said we don't know who the squad see as their leaders, best captains etc - inside line = Kearney and Best the most respected players in the squad

Not sure where your inside line is going from - either way its not about leaders its about captaincy - very difficult to be an effective captain (especially now with so much ongoing communication with the ref) if you are positioned at fb

I'm always surprised by some peoples dislike of Heaslip, albeit most of the dislike seems to come from the south. Not liking somebody is not a valid ground to declare them as "not captaincy material". Yet any players you hear interviewed have great respect for Heaslip, and do rate him as a leader. Somebody has the wrong assessment, I'd go with the players on the pitch not the fans in the stand.

Anyway. We have captains and vice captains, provincial captains, leaders etc throughout the team. Often the "captain" wont still be on the field in the last few minutes - up steps one of our other leaders. So the work of leading is spread between several players, what is the role the official captain needs to better than any other player? Best coin tosser maybe?

Players are disliked by fans from other provinces for no good reason - Dennis Leamy for some reason became a real focal point for Leinster fans ire. One of the main reasons people dislike Heaslip is because he is a bit of a hipster - I've no problem I find it hard to take him overly serious when you see him dressed like an overgrown teenager (BOD had thios in the Glenda days but grew up - Heaslip doesn't seem to have) - of course this is nothing to do with rugby at all but thems the optics (and I wouldn't underestimate optics - PR is a big part of the captaincy role)

Being honest I haven't heard any p[layers talk about Heaslip the way you are talking about (that said I haven't heard any fans talking about players other than POC and BOD like that)

Hugo

POM has 35 caps and has been first choice pretty much since making his debut - won't be a feature in whether he is captain or not (the fact that he is experienced, first choice and has huge captaincy experience is far more important)

Again with the tackling!!!! You have this version of what a blindside - you don't seem to (and correct me if I am wrong) seem to apply the same rationale to openside and No.8 roles. For example Heaslip is not a particularly great carrer (ie compared to the likes of Picamoles, Vermeulen, Read, Parisse, etc) and should that not be so important to his position. Lydiate is probably the best tackler out there, but he offers pretty much nothing else. POM is not the most destructive tackler but he brings a huge amount and is hugely flexible - he is avery underrated carrier for example - you will see hifootwork but he generally makes ground in the hard yards carries as well - not saying he hasn't improvements to make but you do seem to overanalyse his "faults" v "faults" of other players

RE Breakdown - seems to me that he can adapt to requirements - his big breakdown games have generally happenend when the likes of SOB wasn't playing

Durability - this is a fair point in general - he has had his fair share of injuries etc. That I'm not sure what you are trying to say with your analysis of his minutes - he had more playing times than POC, Sexton and only 20 minutes less than SOB in the WC. He also played all but 14 minutes of the 2015 6N - again I don't see that as a major issue in deciding the captaincy

[simonokeeffe]

This is why Heaslip is perfect as interim captain so to speak, whoever takes it is going to be on a hiding to nothing taking over from POC (like Clough taking over from Revie or Des Lynam taking over from Richard Whitely) and will be questions over whether they can make RWC 2019 either age/fitness or keeping their place but Heaslip is a big enough boy to get on with it

Plus without reading Joe's mind we don't know if he will be our coach after summer 2017

Kearney is a curious case as he is unlikely to be shifted in the next 2 or 3 years but is not blowing anyone away
It will take someone special to dislodge him at Leinster, Ulster's fullback will be Pitau for the next couple of years, Ludik this season so an NIQ either way, Leader at Connacht unlikely to do it in the next couple of years
Zebo has the potential to overtake him but can't see that happening with Felix Jones playing well, captaining when POM is unavailable and Munster needing a defensively solid fullback

[Golf Man]

This is why Heaslip is perfect as interim captain so to speak, whoever takes it is going to be on a hiding to nothing taking over from POC (like Clough taking over from Revie or Des Lynam taking over from Richard Whitely) and will be questions over whether they can make RWC 2019 either age/fitness or keeping their place but Heaslip is a big enough boy to get on with it

Plus without reading Joe's mind we don't know if he will be our coach after summer 2017

Kearney is a curious case as he is unlikely to be shifted in the next 2 or 3 years but is not blowing anyone away
It will take someone special to dislodge him at Leinster, Ulster's fullback will be Pitau for the next couple of years, Ludik this season so an NIQ either way, Leader at Connacht unlikely to do it in the next couple of years
Zebo has the potential to overtake him but can't see that happening with Felix Jones playing well, captaining when POM is unavailable and Munster needing a defensively solid fullback

Zebo has the potential to absolutely - if Schmidt changes the approach slightly then he needs to bring players like Zebo in more - I don't thionk iwould take too much to dislodge Jones (lot depends on where Earls is playing though)

[simonokeeffe]

This is why Heaslip is perfect as interim captain so to speak, whoever takes it is going to be on a hiding to nothing taking over from POC (like Clough taking over from Revie or Des Lynam taking over from Richard Whitely) and will be questions over whether they can make RWC 2019 either age/fitness or keeping their place but Heaslip is a big enough boy to get on with it

Plus without reading Joe's mind we don't know if he will be our coach after summer 2017

Kearney is a curious case as he is unlikely to be shifted in the next 2 or 3 years but is not blowing anyone away
It will take someone special to dislodge him at Leinster, Ulster's fullback will be Pitau for the next couple of years, Ludik this season so an NIQ either way, Leader at Connacht unlikely to do it in the next couple of years
Zebo has the potential to overtake him but can't see that happening with Felix Jones playing well, captaining when POM is unavailable and Munster needing a defensively solid fullback

Zebo has the potential to absolutely - if Schmidt changes the approach slightly then he needs to bring players like Zebo in more - I don't thionk iwould take too much to dislodge Jones (lot depends on where Earls is playing though)

yeah where Earls features will be interesting, I have a feeling it will be the wing

though would be interesting if Zebo said (to Foley) he wanted to play fullback as much as possible as he felt it was his best chance to get into the Ireland team