Leinster and Ireland lock James Ryan has said that he and the rest of the Leinster team are fully behind the decision to award Caelan Doris the Leinster captaincy.
Doris was selected as the new captain for the upcoming United Rugby Championship campaign. Ryan was previously co-captain with Gary Ringrose, but that role will now go to Mayo native Doris alone.
Speaking to leinsterrugby.ie yesterday, Leinster Rugby Head Coach Leo Cullen said that the Leinster and Ireland star was a natural choice for the armband.
“We’re delighted to announce Caelan Doris as Leinster captain for the forthcoming season," said Cullen.
“Caelan has come off an exceptional 12 months, beginning at last year’s Rugby World Cup and culminating with him captaining Ireland to victory over world champions South Africa in Durban this summer.
“Over the course of last season, our supporters will have seen not only how Caelan performed himself, but how he grew into the captaincy role when given that opportunity, both with Leinster and Ireland. He is an outstanding leader and a natural choice to lead Leinster into what we hope will be an exciting season."
It might seem, from the outside looking in, that losing the captaincy of your home province is a big blow. However, Ryan admitted that he and the rest of the Leinster squad are fully behind Leo Cullen’s decision and that there are no hard feelings on his end.
Caelan Doris (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)"We're fully behind it," said Ryan via the Mirror. "We're delighted for Caelan. It was a huge honour for me to co-captain Leinster over the last two seasons, and we'll support Caelan as much as possible."
Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne, along with RG Snyman, will provide excellent cover for Leinster in the second row this year. Ryan will have a big task on his hands. When asked how he felt about the level of competition at Leinster now, he added that contributing to Leinster and Ireland is his main focus.
"My focus is contributing to the team as best as possible; whether that's as captain or not is not important," added the Dubliner. "For me, being at my very best is contributing to both Leinster and Ireland in the best way I can.
"That's my focus more than ever this season—trying to get that right, because we're desperate to win trophies this year. I'm just trying to play my small part to help us do that."
Leinster start their new campaign against Edinburgh next Friday.
