‘Dark horse’ – Ex-Ireland forward backing ‘bolter’ for Six Nations captaincy

Former Ireland hooker and popular pundit Bernard Jackman has thrown a new name into his country’s Six Nations captaincy mix.

Peter O’Mahony and James Ryan are among the favourites for the position, while Garry Ringrose has also been discussed.

The great Keith Wood has suggested that hooker Dan Sheehan should be considered by Andy Farrell, but Jackman says that the answer lies at the base of the scrum.

Successor to Sexton

Farrell is looking for his successor after previous skipper Johnny Sexton retired following Ireland’s Rugby World Cup defeat to the All Blacks.

Jackman doesn’t believe that there are too many options for the head coach but insists that Caelan Doris is the best available to him for the upcoming Six Nations.

“It’s a big call for Farrell. I think there’s a strong chance that it’s going to be Caelan Doris,” he told RTE’s Saturday Sport.

“I think there’s a chance it’ll be him because he’s nailed on to start, [his] age profile. It would be a bolter from Farrell.

“The other alternative is that Peter [O’Mahony] comes back and plays and they go for a short-term fix.

“I don’t know, there aren’t a lot of fellas that you’d go, ‘he should be captain’. I think Doris could end up being a bit of a dark horse.”

The captain will no doubt be named when Farrell selects his squad later this month for the upcoming Six Nations, where they will be looking to defend their title.

Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2023 and the core of their squad remains, with the exception of fly-half star Sexton.

Squad depth

However, Jackman believes that they are short in other positions as they start building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

“When that squad is picked, it’s going to be quite shallow in certain positions,” he added.

“Loosehead, I think they’re going to move Tom O’Toole back from tighthead to be the back-up to [Andrew] Porter.

“There’s a really good generation coming through who are 19, 20, 21 but the cycle above them haven’t come through to the level that we probably would have liked.

“I think that squad that we see isn’t going to be as exciting as the one we saw last year.”

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