O’Connell delights at captaincy stand-in role

PAUL O’CONNELL’S elevation to Irish captain for the RBS Six Nations Championship yesterday came as no surprise.

In the absence of Brian O’Driscoll, it wasn’t even a tough decision for Declan Kidney, given O’Connell’s role as Munster skipper, his past record of stand-in and his captaincy on British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2009.

Yet Kidney would probably hope it will only be a temporary measure; O’Connell replaces O’Driscoll as the Leinster player continues to recover from surgery on a trapped nerve in his shoulder.