Dan Sheehan leapfrogs four candidates to take Lions captain's role against Force
Dan Sheehan's rise and rise as a rugby star continues and his being picked, still aged 26, to captain the Lions against Force is a massive honour and completes a neat 2025 hat-trick.Last January 25 he was picked to captain Leinster for only his second time but on a first return following a seven month ACL injury lay-off, against Stormers in the URC.Last February 28, he captained Ireland for the first time, against Wales - a pointer as to what was coming down the line as both Peter O'Mahony and Jack Conan were on the Ireland side that day.
Now this Saturday, June 28 he will lead the Lions for the first time, against Force in Perth.The Dubliner scored twice as Leinster defeated Stormers 36-12 in Dublin, while Ireland won 27-18 in Cardiff and for which, unusually as far as internationals are concerned, he was left on the field for 75 minutes.That Sheehan has been picked to lead a Lions side this week that includes Scotland captain Sione Tuipolutu and their vice-captain Finn Russell...And ahead of his end-of-season Leinster captain Jack Conan and Munster captain Tadhg Beirne is a massive vote of confidence for the hooker from Andy Farrell."It is obviously a massive privilege," said Sheehan at the team announcement. "Obviously at the start of the week I was just doing all I can to put on a Red jersey for the first time."You look around the room and you see so many people who are capable of captaining this team. Obviously I don't have a whole lot of captaining experience but I'll just lean on the lads who do."I just need to be myself, do what I usually do and that's why I am here in the first place and I am looking forward to the game."Sheehan admitted it had been a busy week, Argentina, travel and getting acclimatised and there hadn't been a lot of time to put Force under a spotlight."I don't want them thinking they are hungrier than us," he said of Saturday's opposition, "but there is only so much you can take in in a week and that's obviously the strong bits but a lot of it will be down to our prep and getting everyone on the same page."Obviously we know they are a physical team, good lineout, a lot of breakdown pressure."Off the back of last week we need to focus on our lineout and our breakdown, two areas we definitely need to focus on."Sheehan is looking forward to leading the group, albeit one where some of the players hardly knew each other three weeks ago but who are, he says, coming together quickly.'There's so much talent and getting that all working together is what Andy Farrell has been labouring on with us already"You see them as a talisman for their own countries and you are glad to be on their side and sharing the same shirt."We need to make sure that we bring all that energy that we used to put into against each other into the same channel and bring it out against Western Force."It is a big part of what we focus on these last few, making sure our connections are tight, buying into working as a group."And how we get it on to the pitch is the main challenge of the tour. Hopefully now we see an improvement, every Saturday and Wednesday.'
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