Who Would You Like to See as Ireland Captain for 6 Nations

Noopti

To be honest Kidney asked him and he thought about it, and he decided that yes, he could still do a great job of being team captain.

I get the impression that BOD would probably be his own harshest critic and would have no problem with standing down if he felt he wasn't up to the job. And I am also sure he knows that POC could step in if that was the case.

But he decided he was still up for it, and all we can do as supporters is get behind him and the team. If Ireland did go on to win the GS he would go down as Irelands greatest captain based on achievements.......so it is a very fine line between being not cut out for the job and being the best for the job when it comes to BOD.

Lets just hope that we can get revenge over France in Croker and push on to a great 6N from there.

anonymous_joe

Can I ask how appointing O'Connell would be a new beginning?

O'Connell played in all those disappointing games of the last year. (France - BOD missing, tackle missed) One more in fact. Both of them are amongst our most senior and experienced players ever. Both of them were lynchpins of Eddie
O'Sullivan's side. Both of them have at times over the past couple of years played quite poorly for periods of time.

Appointing O'Connell would probably change very little - if he's an influence already in the dressing room, captain won't change that much - add to that, it would be taken as a vote of no-confidence in our second most irreplacable player. Ireland could do without O'Connell a lot more than without O'Gara or O'Driscoll, neither of whom have anything approaching a replacement, whereas we've plenty of second-rows.

I don't like the idea of 'taking' the captaincy from a player - words matter, and in this case, they have very nasty undertones for Ireland's captain.

Anyway, I've no doubts that O'Connell will play with his usual passion, I've no doubts that O'Driscoll, will, as ever, throw himself on the line for Ireland once more. Think back to the grim World Cup, and ask yourself, which single (injured) Irish player stepped up to the mark?

The guy deserves the captaincy, and while it may be an unwelcome burden in terms of the weight of responsibility and expectation, it's also a clear sign of the esteem in which he's held. For all our posturing and whining on here (and none more so than me :P) none of us knows these guys as well as players as the coaches have. All of O'Driscoll's coaches have now made him captain. Let's hope that he can show us unwashed masses why.

gosplan

Warper wrote: »

Bad decision this - it implies that nothing has changed from the O'Sullivan era.

Conversely, you could say that stripping BOD of the captaincy implies that he was part of the O'Sullivan era and that his day has gone.

I'm not sure about the decision but I think Kidney's one of the smartest guys around. If this boost helps BOD regain his form for Ireland, then it will go down as a masterstroke because he's so so so important to the Irish team. No-one's really worried about POC's form are they, and you know he's going to lead the forwards no matter what.

Persiancowboy

The decision on the Irish captaincy has nothing to do with form or the long-term best interests of the Irish team. It is instead a matter of appeasing the various political (with a small "p") interests that exist within rugby circles and also the media (such as the Sunday Tribune's Leinster Rugby corresponent Niall Francis). Heaven forbid that an ish team coached by a former Munster coach would also have a Munster captain!! This harks back to the issues raised on a number of occasions by the late Mick Doyle in his time of national coach when he commented on the political bickering within the IRFU about club representation on the Irish team.

thehighground

I'd trust Kidney to know what he is doing here. When announcing the team last week, Kidney mentioned about how low the confidence of the squad was (because of the World Cup). Kidney probably doesn't think changing the captain is going to help improve that at this stage, and possibly POC/ROG/RB (collective responsibility for WC debacle) - whoever - would be unhappy about taking on the captaincy under these circumstances anyway.

I still don't think BOD makes a good captain - I would prefer the captain to be a forward so that they can talk to the referee. But that is not BOD's fault - he was just made captain far too young and so is around for too long.

Eoin - re Simon Easterby - think it was Easterby got picked for his skill ahead of Anthony Foley (for his leadership). Thinking back to when BOD was made captain, much of the commentary about the time was why Foley wasn't made captain ahead of BOD. Foley is now regarded as the greatest captain Ireland never had

Anonymous-joe: Re POC's bad performances. You seem to concentrate on all his bad performances. Straight after the RWC, POC had an operation on his back and was out injured for a couple of months (seems he was playing in RWC despite injury). He was only coming back mid-February last year - I think he came into the 6Ns squad after a couple of games in, without any club game time prior to that. No doubt POC will contribute in the dressing room, but who is on the spot and can talk to the ref. is more important as far as I'm concerned.

Sangre

**** it. Even if BOD isn't the best captain we have he has given far too much to his country to have people bitch and moan that he is still the captain. His determination, passion, vision and love for playing has never faltered. If thats all our captain has I'll happily take it.

thehighground

Persiancowboy wrote: »

The decision on the Irish captaincy has nothing to do with form or the long-term best interests of the Irish team. It is instead a matter of appeasing the various political (with a small "p") interests that exist within rugby circles and also the media (such as the Sunday Tribune's Leinster Rugby corresponent Niall Francis). Heaven forbid that an ish team coached by a former Munster coach would also have a Munster captain!! This harks back to the issues raised on a number of occasions by the late Mick Doyle in his time of national coach when he commented on the political bickering within the IRFU about club representation on the Irish team.

Munster supporters should probably be glad that this is the way it all panned out - that 'hard-done-by', 'we'll show them' has served Munster well!

Climate Expert

Brian O'Driscoll.

He has been made captain by a number of managers so obviously he does the right thing at training, in the dressing room and on the pitch to merit it. His teamates give him full support in the role as well.

Its laughable all the people here think they know anything about the man because they see him play on tv or give a few interviews.

Podge_irl

Persiancowboy wrote: »

The decision on the Irish captaincy has nothing to do with form or the long-term best interests of the Irish team. It is instead a matter of appeasing the various political (with a small "p") interests that exist within rugby circles and also the media (such as the Sunday Tribune's Leinster Rugby corresponent Niall Francis). Heaven forbid that an ish team coached by a former Munster coach would also have a Munster captain!! This harks back to the issues raised on a number of occasions by the late Mick Doyle in his time of national coach when he commented on the political bickering within the IRFU about club representation on the Irish team.

Yeah, you're probably right. Kidney is just there for show, Franno is actually pulling all the strings. He just wanted Kidney there as a fall guy in case things don't go well.

Micky Dolenz

Climate Expert wrote: »

Brian O'Driscoll.


Its laughable all the people here think they know anything about the man because they see him play on tv or give a few interviews.

In that case no-one could comment about any sports person

BOD lover:pac::pac::pac:

Climate Expert

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

In that case no-one could comment about any sports person

BOD lover:pac::pac::pac:

You can make fair comment on what you can see on the pitch.

Micky Dolenz

Climate Expert wrote: »

You can make fair comment on what you can see on the pitch.

Afraid, thats not how the world works. It is not a fair and just place.

For the record, I am a Munster man and as one belive that BOD is a legend. He rarely fails to impress me when he plays. A lot of young players could learn a lot from him. His work rate without ball is immense, Tackle up, tackle again. A real joy to watch and a worthy captain.

anonymous_joe

thehighground wrote: »

Anonymous-joe: Re POC's bad performances. You seem to concentrate on all his bad performances. Straight after the RWC, POC had an operation on his back and was out injured for a couple of months (seems he was playing in RWC despite injury). He was only coming back mid-February last year - I think he came into the 6Ns squad after a couple of games in, without any club game time prior to that. No doubt POC will contribute in the dressing room, but who is on the spot and can talk to the ref. is more important as far as I'm concerned.

Oh I know that.

For the record - he's my favourite Munster player, by a long shot. Him or Flannery I guess.

I just find that there's an awful lot of people attempting to put the boot into one player, and comparing him unfavourably to O'Connell, whose held up as an example of an almighty figure, a collossus from another age.

He's not. He's a very good, world class even second row forward, and one of our best players ever. But he's played badly before too.

One of our big problems in Irish rugby is that people are unwilling to acknowledge that players can play badly - unless they make a huge deal out of it. No-one'll say, ah Paulie wasn't playing well, so we took him off. He didn't have a great game against NZ, and the coach's hesitation to take him off cost us badly. That's not his fault, and the same accusation can be made about O'Driscoll and others. There is a difficult balancing act for any coach to deal with in terms of form versus known skill/experience. Few Irishs coaches have handled it well.

Stev_o

Seriously who cares a different man talking isn t going to change how lethargically we'v been playing in our past games.

thehighground

Stev_o wrote: »

Seriously who cares a different man talking isn t going to change how lethargically we'v been playing in our past games.

It also means that BOD will be starting every game (he thinks he is fit for).

Serenity Now!

Persiancowboy wrote: »

The decision on the Irish captaincy has nothing to do with form or the long-term best interests of the Irish team. It is instead a matter of appeasing the various political (with a small "p") interests that exist within rugby circles and also the media (such as the Sunday Tribune's Leinster Rugby corresponent Niall Francis). Heaven forbid that an ish team coached by a former Munster coach would also have a Munster captain!! This harks back to the issues raised on a number of occasions by the late Mick Doyle in his time of national coach when he commented on the political bickering within the IRFU about club representation on the Irish team.

oh jaysus-diddy-effing-christ...:rolleyes:

Noopti

Appointment of BOD to appease Niall Francis! That's the best I've heard in a long time!

anonymous_joe

Noopti wrote: »

Appointment of BOD to appease Niall Francis! That's the best I've heard in a long time!

I heard if you turn around and say his name three times at midnight he writes an article about you!!! :eek:

Noopti

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I heard if you turn around and say his name three times at midnight he writes an article about you!!! :eek:

He is the Beetlejuice of the rugby world.

RuggieBear

rugby...?