After standing on the shoulders of giants, new leader Sheehan aims to step up again in Wales 

'It's a massive honour' says the Ireland hooker as he prepares to lead his country for the first time in Cardiff, paying tribute to those who went before and revealing the story behind that viral childhood photo with Jonah Lomu 

LEADING THEM OUT: Dan Sheehan prepares for the  Ireland Rugby Captain's Run, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Dan Sheehan has been standing on the shoulders of giants since he was a small child atop those belonging to Jonah Lomu. Yet it is the metaphorical scapulae that Ireland’s newest skipper will look to base his captaincy on when he leads the men in green into Guinness Six Nations battle against Wales.

Sheehan, 26, will return to the starting hooker position at Principality Stadium on Saturday as Ireland look to advance their claim for a third title in a row and bag a Triple Crown in the process, following opening victories over both England and Scotland earlier this month. 

While he replaces an injured Ronan Kelleher in the front row, he was also interim head coach Simon Easterby’s pick to stand in as captain in the absence of No.8 Caelan Doris, who misses out due to a knee injury.

Sheehan will become Ireland’s 111th player to captain the men’s Test team and speaking in Cardiff on Friday on the eve of the match he referenced the leaders he has already served under since his international debut off the bench against Japan in November 2021.

“It’s a massive honour,” Sheehan said. “When I think of the names that are on that list that have went before me, and the last three especially that I have experienced, in Caelan, Pete (O’Mahony), and Johnny (Sexton), obviously there are few in there as well with Tadhg (Furlong), these are sort of role models for me.

“So to be put on the same list is a big deal but I’ve made a point to myself to not think about it too much and take it day by day. I’m very comfortable in the group, it hasn’t got to me too much, and I’ve enjoyed the week really. It’s been nice. My phone has been blowing up and sorry if I haven’t got back to anyone yet. We’ve had a great week’s prep and everyone is ready for tomorrow.”

WAY BACK WHEN: Dan Sheehan, photographed when he was a 4 year old, with All Blacks rugby great Jonah Lomu. Pic: Leon Farrell/ © RollingNews.ie

Sheehan’s elevation has seen a picture of him as a four-year-old perched on All Blacks rugby legend Lomu’s shoulders emerge. The 2003 image was for a Ballygowan bottled water photoshoot and Sheehan explained how it came about.

“I actually think it was as simple as a family connection, I think my auntie was in a marketing agency at the time. They needed a kid willing to shave his head and my parents willingly put me forward!" he revealed. 

“I have a vague memory of it. I was very young but I remember it being pretty cool. I remember rocking back into school the next day with the haircut and getting a good giggle out of the lads.

“I suppose we just a big rugby fan family. Dad would have got us in at a very young age, down in Bective. As the years went on I got a bit more serious but it wasn’t until I left school that I really took it seriously and saw that I might have a shot at going in pro.

“Yeah, we were always a massive rugby family, it’s all we talked about and we’d be excited going to these games and watching these games on Saturdays, especially Six Nations. Kind of weird to look back through eyes of a child and it’s nice to be here now and I’m absolutely loving everything that has to go with the team and yeah, thrilled to be here.” 

Sheehan will be all business on Saturday as Ireland aim to deliver a team effort that will quell an expected rebound from a Wales team looking to rebound from 14 straight Test defeats under their own new interim head coach Matt Sherratt in their first game of the 2025 championship on home soil and in front of a sell-out crowd.

“That’s the only thing on my mind, to get a performance," Sheehan insisted. "We’ve gone well the last two weeks, but only at times and we’ve definitely had patches in the games where we definitely weren’t at our best and there was some areas that we really need to work on to get an 80 minute performance.

“It’s one of the things we’ve been talking about, making sure we start well and then continue that the whole game. All eyes on are tomorrow and there has not been one word talked about any other game, this is massive for us.

“It’s a great stadium to play, we’ve talked about how passionate the Welsh fans are or maybe daunting, and beautiful I suppose that stadium is to play rugby in. So everyone is really excited about tomorrow.”