Kidney set to stick with O’Driscoll as Irish captain

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL looks set to retain the captaincy of the Irish team when new national coach Declan Kidney announces his 30-man squad for the November internationals today.

When O’Driscoll stood down as captain of Leinster at the beginning of the season, there was speculation that he might follow a similar course of action with Ireland, given concerns that the responsibility was detracting from his inestimable value as a player.

Furthermore, Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell had looked comfortable when assuming the role whenever O’Driscoll wasn’t available and there was also the issue of Ireland’s many poor performances in both the World Cup towards the end of 2007 and the subsequent Six Nations Championship. Ten defeats in 14 outings is hardly to the credit of the captain or his players.