Caelan Doris: 'There's a bit of frustration there but it's also that I know I have more in me'

Ireland captain Caelan Doris has set out his goals for the season but they lie in the background as he concentrates on his game week by week.

Wed, 20 Nov, 2024 - 07:30

Brendan O'Brien

There’s always more. To give. To do. To be. Caelan Doris has had quite the week. Captain of the Ireland team that saw off Argentina in Dublin last Friday, he was nominated for the men’s XVs World Rugby player of the year on Monday, then named Ireland’s best in the same category by the Rugby Writers of Ireland on Tuesday night at the Guinness Storehouse.

“Pretty cool,” he said of the individual garlands, although it goes without saying that there was the accustomed reflection as to how these sort of baubles tend to come on the back of a collective effort, in his case with either Leinster or Ireland. He is, he pointed out, a product of his environment.

In Ballina, in Blackrock, in blue and in green.

He didn’t skipper his province until January 1st of this year. Now he’s Ireland captain with it and a top tip for the same honour when Andy Farrell gets his British and Irish Lions together next summer. It seems like everything good is happening at once but, as with all these things, this has been years in the making.

“In some ways it has been quite a natural, incremental process. The whole thing from underage, into the academy, first cap with Leinster, first European cap, my debut... It hasn't felt like one massive jump, it's kind of been quite an incremental thing. And, like both environments are so enjoyable to be in, it doesn't feel... It's a very enjoyable process as well.

“I love coming in to train every day, I love being in camp. I love being with some of my best mates every day and getting to do what I do. It's a very enjoyable thing. I also feel like my friends and family outside of rugby keep me pretty grounded, I'm still just Caelan the normal person to them. That's nice as well.”

Doris was just superb at times in a season that started officially on the back of last year’s World Cup. He was intrinsic to a Six Nations campaign that finished with Ireland claiming back-to-back championship titles, and to the summer’s work in South Africa where they shared the spoils in a two-match Test series.

There have been challenges with all this: the loss in Twickenham to England, that first Test reversal against the Springboks and a dreadful team display against the All Blacks earlier this month, but the Doris graph continues to arch skywards towards that Lions tour of Australia and the possibility of another leading role.

Not so fast.

“It’s beyond my thinking. When I’m setting out my season goals of course it comes up about making the tour, I’d absolutely love to, but I always set out my goals for the season, then have them in the background and then focus on week on week on week.

“I think that is the only way you can do it. You don’t want to get lost in something down the line and not perform each week and you end up losing out on it. I’m very much week to week at the minute.”

The sheer weight and consistency of the schedule is reason enough for that tunnel vision mid-campaign, even for an Irish player who, by rugby’s punishing physical standards, is well catered for by the IRFU’s highly-regarded player management system.

But there is more behind Doris’ hand-off when it comes to Lions talk. For all the individual and team honours coming his way lately, he hasn’t hit the very heights in every game he has played – witness his last two against New Zealand – and he knows himself that there is, and must be, more to come.

"I've said you before, with the extra responsibilities I didn't want my game to not get as much attention, because I still feel I have so much more in me and have a lot more potential and improvements. Over the last couple of weeks I haven't been particularly happy with how I have gone.

“So it's still a big learning curve and there's still so much potential in me as a player and a leader. I find it exciting, and I know that by being put in these situations that haven't always been the most comfortable, especially at the start, my capacity is growing through it.”

This is an admirable honesty.

“I don't beat myself up about it, but it does dictate my mood and my thoughts a bit, at the same time. There's a bit of frustration there but it's also that I know I have more in me. It's not over harsh words, but I am pretty critical when I'm reviewing [myself].”

This honesty extends to his appraisal of the Ireland team’s performances this last two weeks and the need to get better. He expands on the need to improve the attack and their discipline but insists there is no sense of “panic stations” as they face into a third of four November assignments, this time against Fiji.

If there is a sense on the outside that the squad and the side has regressed from the highs of the 2022 series win in New Zealand and the following year’s Six Nations, that the loss of leadership figures like Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls has hurt and that maybe, paradoxically, more young blood is needed then Doris presents a steady hand on the tiller.

“There's some key guys not there but the thing just moves on, it just keeps going. It's not like you lose a couple of big personalities and other people have to step up and be that person. The load is spread across the group.

“The environment here is a very good one and a key message within the environment is to be yourself. Guys feel comfortable to be more themselves and express themselves and that shares the load across the group a little bit more.

“When you lose a character like Sexto and Earlsie and these guys, from the outside maybe you think there's this big void that needs to be filled, but it just kind of moves on quite naturally in a way as well.”

He has been a huge part of that.