Captain Heaslip plays it cool

Declan Kidney didn’t have to announce his team yesterday to signal Ireland’s changing of the guard.

The sight of Jamie Heaslip sitting to his right and Richardt Strauss to his left did that for him.

One is the new captain, the other a new cap whose route to this juncture will be replicated again and again in the years to come if the IRFU’s special player project continues to attract non-native talent of such quality to these shores.