Dave Kearney: Jamie Heaslip has all the qualities to be leader

They are big boots to fill but, after the loss of captain Paul O’Connell, Dave Kearney is in no doubt Jamie Heaslip has the qualities to successfully lead Ireland into their World Cup quarter-final with Argentina on Sunday.

O’Connell’s illustrious Ireland career was brought to a cruel end by a hamstring tear suffered against France last Sunday, the Toulon-bound lock undergoing a surgical repair yesterday as his squad-mates enjoyed a rest day before today’s final full training session in the Welsh capital.When gameday comes on Sunday it will be number 8 and Leinster skipper Heaslip - winning his 80th cap - bearing the burden of leadership as Ireland face of World Cup foes Argentina at the Millennium Stadium. Wing Kearney has complete faith in Heaslip’s ability to step up and take on the mantle of captain for the third time this season after his same role against Wales in pre-season and against Romania in the pool stages.

“There’s a lot of experience there with Paulie. It’s been his fourth World Cup, obviously a massive loss on and off the pitch,” Kearney said. “He was still there, he’s hanging around and even [on Wednesday], he was talking at our meetings so nothing much has changed there. Jamie is really experienced at captaincy, captained a lot of big teams before. It’s nothing really different for him. It’s one of the big positives about the squad, we’ve so many leaders who can step up and take that leadership role.

“When you have a captain I suppose you don’t want too many people talking all the time and he probably wouldn’t have done as much talking in previous weeks when we have Paulie there, Johnny (Sexton) there, and some of the other lads. But this week he’s kind of had to talk more, but it’s something that comes naturally to Jamie so it’s nothing out of the ordinary for him.”

A World Cup quarter-final will be new territory for Kearney but, having played a full 80 minutes in three of the four pool games, he’s feeling more than comfortable at the highest level and satisfied with his performances.