The Peter O'Mahony era began perfectly last Friday with a record win over France in their Six Nations clash, but we may also have gotten a small glimpse into the beginnings of a future era of the Ireland captaincy.
It is unclear how long the 34-year-old O'Mahony will continue to truck on for, and there were a few strong candidates touted to take over from the recently retired Johnny Sexton, ahead of this year's Six Nations.
One of those names was Caelan Doris, who was seen as a dark horse option, and not as obvious a pick as Leinster co-captains James Ryan and Garry Ringrose.
Is Caelan Doris The Future Ireland Captain?
What differentiated Doris' claim to the throne was that he is a guaranteed starter, without any serious competition for his place in the team.
Before O'Mahony was announced as captain, Leinster forwards coach Robyn McBride spoke highly of Doris as an option to take over, mentioning his competence on both sides of the ball and saying that "it’s well within the realms that he could become the next captain. There’s a number of candidates but it would be very foolish not to put his name among some of the others."
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𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄!! 🟢
This has been sensational from Ireland! Ronan Kelleher with the fifth!#FRAvIRE | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/LD6Cn5E9rs
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Interestingly, when O'Mahony was subbed off it was Doris who became the on-field captain, and retained the role when James Ryan came on soon after.
What lead to Ireland's fifth try (shown above), from Rónan Kelleher, was a wily decision from Doris to kick to the corner from a penalty rather than take the obvious option of three points.
As you can see from the screen grabs below, it is a very kickable opportunity, and once which would have put Ireland three scores ahead and made any chance of a French comeback impossible.
In the first picture you can see Jack Crowley pointing for the posts, before Craig Casey comes on with the kicking tee.
Not to be swayed, however, Doris stands firm and makes it clear that he wants his team to go for the jugular, which they succeed in doing by scoring directly off the maul from the resulting line out.
It was a very nice piece of captaincy from the Leinster number eight - who is also part of the leadership group at his province - and shows how highly he is respected by his international teammates.
Strong Caelan Doris Captaincy Leads To Ireland Try
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