Aye aye captain - Paul O"Connell refuses to rule out Ireland skipper role

Paul O’Connell was tight-lipped last night on the prospect of becoming Ireland’s new captain – but refused to rule it out.

New boss Joe Schmidt has yet to announce who will lead the team into battle against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand in the November internationals.

O’Connell

has captained Ireland 11 times but only when covering for injured Brian

O’Driscoll and he has never filled the role in his own right.

Jamie

Heaslip was handed the honour by former coach Declan Kidney for last year’s November series when both O’Driscoll and O’Connell were crocked.

But

the Leinster and Lions ace then controversially kept the captaincy for the Six Nations, even though O’Driscoll was back in harness.

O’Connell,

33, was still sidelined at the time and, with the Schmidt era getting under way, will be in the mix along with Heaslip, Jonny Sexton, Sean O’Brien and Peter O’Mahony.

But

O’Connell was giving little away yesterday and said: “I honestly don’t know.

“I have done captaincy with Ireland on a few occasions in the past and I have done it with Munster.

“There

is a big demand mentally. It is something I would have to give a lot of

thought to. It is about doing what is best for yourself and for the team as well.”

As O’Connell admits, captaining your country is not something easily turned down if asked but he said: “On this Lions tour, I really enjoyed not being captain. It allows you to really focus on yourself and get our own game right.

“It is something I would give thought to but there are a lot of really good candidates there as it is. I thought Jamie did a better job that he was given credit for with Ireland.

“Jonny

is there, Sean O’Brien and Peter O’Mahony seems to have done a really good job during the summer. It’s a good position for any coach to be in,

to have that many leaders.”

But O’Connell strongly suggested that he won’t take on the Munster captaincy for a second time.

“I stood down from it last year as I felt it was time for someone new and that probably doesn’t really change,” he said.

Meanwhile,

O’Connell revealed that he had never seen O’Driscoll so down as when Warren Gatland controversially axed him for the third and deciding Lions

test last weekend.

“He was devastated,” said the Limerick man, who is getting married at the end of the month and will return to rugby in six weeks once his fractured arm is healed.

“He did both training sessions after he got dropped and stayed on and we had a community initiative with coaching and signing and Brian was the last man on the bus.

“He didn’t touch a beer until after the Test, he was just very impressive because it was probably the toughest few days of his career.”

And

despite being forced out of the second and third Tests in Australia with the arm, O’Connell insists he is in a good place after a litany of injury setbacks.

“I definitely viewed the tour as a positive but while I was delighted that we won, you don’t exactly feel a part of it when you look around the changing room and the guys who played in that final game are the guys celebrating the hardest.”

Article source: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-rugby-legend-gerald-davies-5068896

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Aye aye captain - Paul O"Connell refuses to rule out Ireland skipper role