Doris: Ireland have their ‘edge’ back for Boks rematch

Bit by bit, Caelan Doris is growing into the role of Irish captain.

Succession-planning hasn’t always been the greatest strength of Irish rugby, but when it comes to the current captaincy, there appears to be a roadmap for this World Cup cycle.

Peter O’Mahony’s leadership has been a bridge for this Irish side going through a transition in 2024, particularly having lost such an imposing character when Johnny Sexton retired last year.

The last six months have shown that when O’Mahony does move on from this Irish side, Doris will almost certainly been the next permanent Irish captain.

Having stepped into the role with Leinster in January, Doris continued to do so in the second half of the season when both Garry Ringrose and James Ryan were unavailable, while he’s also been the next man up in Ireland’s leadership group when O’Mahony has either been injured, or replaced in the second half of games.

Having skippered Ireland from the start in the Six Nations meeting with Italy at the Aviva Stadium in February, Doris will lead his country out for the second time on Saturday afternoon at King’s Park in Durban, as they look to draw their series with the Springboks (4pm).

And while the opposition are a level above Italy, Doris (above) believes he’s already more comfortable with the captaincy.

“I’m delighted to be in the role,” he said, after Ireland got through their captain’s run at Northwood High School in Durban.

“I think the first time, the Italy week, there was more nerves and pressure and more self-doubt.”

When Doris captained Ireland against Italy, he did so with O’Mahony ruled out due to injury, but this time around it’s been a selection call that’s seen the veteran drop to the bench.

And the stand-in skipper says O’Mahony’s guidance has been a big part of the week.

“This week I’m feeling more of the privilege and the honour, and it’s been helped massively by Pete who is the tour captain.

“We’ve had good chats along the way, and the leadership group have stepped in massively and taken weight off me at times.

“Pete in particular, it’s tough on him going from a starting position last week to a bench position this week, but he’s led unbelievably well this week and has been a massive helping hand for me, and when he comes on I’m sure he’ll do the same,” he added.

On Thursday, Farrell spoke candidly about his disappointment in their performance in the first Test, where Ireland started slowly against the Springboks and were left chasing the game throughout.

And Doris admitted the review of that game earlier in the week was a sobering experience.

“We had a good meeting on Wednesday in particular where we saw some clips that we felt wasn’t us.

“It wasn’t what we’ve shown over the last number of years in terms of some of the smaller things, our work rate for each other, standing up for each other a little bit, our response to a couple of positives from them and not responding how we would have in the past.

“It brought up a little bit of hurt and it was frustrating seeing those images back and it makes you want to fly into the match as soon as possible.

“We had a good training session off the back of that and I feel lads have a bit of an edge off the back of that.

“We also spoke about our calm, doing things our way, which we can’t go away from either. It’s trying to strike that balance between being calm, doing things how we do them, but having a bit of an edge and aggression and edge to us as well.”

Despite the nature of last week’s performance, the 25-year-old says the squad have proven in the past, most notably on their tour of New Zealand in 2022, that they can react positively to defeat.

“We’ve touched on some of those, that New Zealand one in particular where we feel we didn’t get things right, and bounced back and showed a bit of resilience in the second Test, so we have shown that this week.

“I always say it to you guys, there’s a load of belief in how we do things here, the quality of players and the quality of coaches. I think we’ll lean on that belief and we want to finish with a good performance and a good result at the end of a long season,” he added.

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