Paul O’Connell will be confirmed as Lions captain for the summer tour to South Africa at lunchtime on Tuesday.
Duncan Bech writes for PA Sport O’Connell arrived in London on Monday night after edging Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning captain Brian O’Driscoll in the race for the most prestigious job in British and Irish rugby.
The 29-year-old refused to answer questions upon touching down at Heathrow but will be presented to the media on Tuesday afternoon once the squad has been announced.
Becoming the 10th Irishman to lead a Lions tour, he follows in the footsteps of England’s Martin Johnson who was selected to captain the 1997 trip to South Africa despite not being national skipper at the time.
An aggressive ball-carrier and accomplished line-out operator, O’Connell is Europe’s most feared second row with his style inviting comparisons with Johnson.
He has led Ireland on four occasions, each time deputising for O’Driscoll, and was at the helm when Munster were crowned Heineken Cup champions last year.
O’Driscoll was heavily backed to reclaim the role he filled in New Zealand four years ago following a blockbusting RBS 6 Nations.
But a crucial insight into the way head coach Ian McGeechan was thinking was provided by his former Scotland coaching colleague and Lions legend Jim Telfer.
“Ian will go with O’Connell. O’Driscoll is an inspirational player, an outstanding player,” said Telfer
“But when I watch Ireland it looks to me as though O’Connell and (Ronan) O’Gara run the team.
“O’Driscoll doesn’t come across in the media as a hard b*****d. I know he does in the games, you couldn’t question that, but in public he’s very easy going.
“You want somebody to sit there grim-faced and mean. That’s what Johnson did.”
Any competition for the position outside of O’Driscoll has evaporated in recent weeks, Wales skipper Ryan Jones suffering a collapse in form that now even threatens his place in the squad.
Tweet
14:30 SA time will see the rest of the squad announced.
I will be doing posting it live as announced.
Just over an hour left for the announcement of the squad, let me go to that “meeting” of mine.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 2) : Oh yes that one I have one as well 😀
http://www.supersport.com/rugby/article.aspx?headline=Live%20chat:%20Lions%20squad%20announcement&id=296996
The tention is killing me
@Charlie (Comment 4) :
Now WHY would we want to discuss it with them if we can do it here on Sharksworld?????????? 😕
IPL commentator “He was looking for SIX……………..He got six less than that” 😆
The Manager is giving a speech first. 😕
GO BOKKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Announcement live on SS1 right now.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 7) : hahahahahahaha
Backs
Lee Byrne
Rob Kearney
Shane Williams
Leigh Halfpenney
Ugo Monye
Luke Fitzgerald
Tommy Bowe
Tom Shanklin
Jamie Roberts
Brian O’Driscoll
Keith Earls
Riki Flutey
Ronan O’Gara
Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips
Harry Ellis
Tomas O’Leary
Forwards
Jamie Heaslip
Andy Powell
David Wallace
Stephen Ferris
Alan Quinlan
Joe Worsley
Martyn Williams
Alun-Wyn Jones
Paul O’Connell
Donncha O’Callaghan
Simon Shaw, Nathan Hines
Gethin Jenkins
Adam Jones
Andrew Sheridan
Phil Vickery
Euan Murray
Jerry Flannery
Lee Mears
Matthew Rees.
Captain: Paul O’Connel
McGeechan: “This is still, I believe, the greatest challenge of any rugby player.”
I think he means any non-Trination rugby player…. 🙄
@KSA Shark © (Comment 11) :
Captain: ?
Huh, you have checked the title of this thread, no? 😈
@Ollie (Comment 13) :
Hehehehe
Fixed while I was typing
What about Jones??????
@Ollie (Comment 14) : Not fair…. they make us look stupid!
New thread for this up
Always maintained that McGeecham is the Lions I fear the most.
The aPPointment of O’CoNNeLL confirms that fEEling
only 3 Joneses 😯
@rekinek (Comment 19) : I’m fairly sure that meets their minimum quota policy… 🙄
@klempie (Comment 20) :
@Oranje Orakel (Comment 18) :
You missed the EE in McGeechan 😉 😆
Orakeleze aint faultleSS….
but it sEEms I miSSed the n as weLL
No maTTer how his surname is spelt – that oke gives me the ruGGacrEEpers!