Captain class: Doris enjoying new leadership role with Ireland

The Leinster man is preparing to face four southern hemisphere sides next month.

PROMOTION: Leinster’s Caelan Doris at the Investec Champions Cup & European Rugby Challenge Cup Launch in Cardiff. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

Caelan Doris’s ascendancy to the Ireland captaincy for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series may have seemed just a matter of time but the Leinster back-rower admits to moments of self-doubt when he began to emerge as a potential leader.

The 26-year-old from Ballina appears to the manor born as skipper for the home Tests against New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia in the IRFU 150th Anniversary match on November 30. Certainly his appointment by head coach Andy Farrell on Wednesday, with Six Nations-winning and summer tour captain Peter O’Mahony in the squad but injured and unavailable to face the All Blacks on Friday, November 8, seemed a no-brainer. Doris had captained twice before, in the 2023 Six Nations round-two win over Italy last February and in the series-levelling, second Test victory over World Champions South Africa in Durban last July and has since been appointed Leinster skipper by Leo Cullen, succeeding last season’s co-captains Garry Ringrose and James Ryan.

Outstanding, try-scoring performances at No.8 in the wins over Benetton and Munster have shown the captaincy has not diluted Doris’s effectiveness on the field and further point to his readiness to lead at Test level. Yet it wasn’t always so assured, he revealed last week as he represented his province at the Champions Cup media day in Cardiff.

“I had done a bit of it at school and underage and then there was probably a five-year period where I hadn’t, so there was a bit of rust to get off there in my first few times back with Leinster and Ireland,” Doris said.

“And with that, it was obviously at a higher level than I had done previously, so there were bits of self-doubt and getting used to the role and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone but with time I am getting used to the role and I am starting to enjoy it a lot more.

“The difference between the week captaining against Italy in the Six Nations versus the second Test in South Africa, is I felt a lot more comfortable, probably because I had six or seven opportunities to do it with Leinster in quite big games at the end of the season.

“So with time, I feel it’s become more comfortable. Obviously, there’s still plenty of room for growth, but I’m enjoying it.” 

Doris explained how he managed to lose that self-doubt.

“With time probably, just trying to be a bit more comfortable with it and knowing that I’d gotten through a week and I’d played okay and I’d done okay. You get a little bit of confidence off the back of that.

“It kind of came from, I had played under Johnny (Sexton) and Pete (O’Mahony), Paul O'Connell was there as a coach, all these people who I had looked up to and had been unbelievable leaders. And I’m like, ‘what the hell am I doing here?’. That’s where it came from, I think, but with time that eases.” Doris is placing an emphasis on his performance levels as he continues to hone his style of leadership.

“The main thing is trying to maintain a good level of personal performance and then, on top of that, it’s about dealing with refs, it’s about the feel through the week of what needs to be said, how lads are feeling, pre- and post-match.

“So there’s extra responsibilities, not just thinking about your own performance but from a wider perspective, the team and training and dealing with those sort of bits.

“But I’ve got a very good leadership group around me and the coaches are world class as well, so it’s been good.” 

The renewal of a now red-hot rivalry with New Zealand in two weeks is a challenge that captain Doris is relishing.

“Traditionally we haven’t done very well against them. We only beat them for the first time in 2016 so I think maybe through that we’ve maybe earned their respect a little bit and it’s been much more competitive over the last five-plus years.

“I played them for the first time in 2021 at home and we beat them and then away we won the series over there as well and then they got us in the (World Cup) quarter-final. So it’s been back and forwards.

“I think there’s a good mutual respect there. I’m massively excited to face them again on a Friday night in Dublin, which will be class. Yeah, two good sides going up against it.”