FIRST THINGS FIRST: Caelan Doris’ housemate, Hugo Keenan, is “rehabbing away” on the injury he sustained against Italy.
It’s not as bad as Keenan or Ireland initially feared, but Doris can’t provide any further context for the moment. There should be an official update on Thursday, when an as-of-yet undetermined Irish coach speaks to the media.
“If he’s not back for Wales”, says Doris, “it’ll be interesting to see whoever is in his shoes and how they go.
“There’s the likes of Frawls (Ciarán Frawley), Jordo (Jordan Larmour) and Jacob Stockdale. They all have the potential to do a very good job.”
Keenan, however, would currently be a loss at fullback to any team on the planet.
Be it at home, on the training pitch, or in full flight on a given weekend, only Leinster and Ireland teammate Rónan Kelleher could rival Doris’ first-hand view of Keenan’s ascent to world-class status over the last couple of years — because he lives with them too.
And Doris makes a point of stressing that, due to his consistency, there are aspects of Keenan’s all-round footballing ability which are taken for granted when they shouldn’t be.
“Like, how good he is under the high ball is pretty remarkable,” Doris says. “It’s definitely very reassuring having him back there.
“He’s a very good attacking threat, capable of tearing defences up. He’s extremely fit — his level of fitness is unrivalled, really.
“He’s played, whatever, 38 out of the last 42 tests. He’s been very durable and I don’t think he’s had a bad game in the jersey.”
Wales on Saturday week feels like it’ll be a stretch for the 27-year-old fullback, who will continue his recovery process during Ireland’s two-day training camp on Thursday and Friday.
Doris, meanwhile, will head west for the squad’s upcoming weekend off.
It’ll be his first trip back to Ballina since Christmas, and naturally the first time he’s been home since breaking new ground for Mayo in captaining his country during Sunday’s hammering of Italy.
And the man known to his provincial and international teammates as ‘Bogsy’ (“‘Bogger’ was my nickname in school — Blackrock — naturally enough,” Doris explains) is buzzing to reunite with the family, friends, and Ballina RFC coaches to whom the accolade partly belongs.
“I got a lot of texts from people back home, sort of touching on the pride they felt and how it was great for the town, great for the people of Ballina, for the club and everything.
“That’s definitely a motivation for me. It’s good to see Ballina, as a club, growing; them doing well, the numbers at minis improving.
“I appreciate their support now as well as all of the coaching and the foundations they laid for me when I was younger.”
It’s mad to think it’s less than a month since Doris dismissed off-hand the possibility of his succeeding Johnny Sexton as Ireland captain.
When the topic was broached with him a couple of days before Peter O’Mahony’s eventual anointment, Doris provided a searing assessment of his captaincy during Leinster’s URC defeat to Ulster on New Year’s Day — and specifically how he had “annoyed” referee Frank Murphy and “struggled a little bit from there”.
But Andy Farrell clearly believes he boasts in his ranks a future skipper in the 25-year-old Doris, who in O’Mahony’s absence was chosen to lead Ireland out against Italy even over his provincial co-captain and fellow starter James Ryan.
So, does that show of faith change Doris’ self-image? Does he need to reassess his perception of his own role within this Ireland group?
“Yeah, yeah, possibly,” says Doris, mulling it over.
“Yeah, I think I did probably get a bit of belief from the week. As challenging as I found it at times, it was also pretty rewarding and it was a pretty special thing to be able to do.
“I’m also aware that there was pretty key leaders for us not involved last weekend, so there are definitely other guys in the mix. But regardless of having the title or not, I want to continue to develop my own leadership.
As Pete comes back in, now, over the next few weeks, I want to try to be more of a voice and help him as much as possible. Just like the other leaders did for me.
Conversations with the likes of O’Mahony and the retired Johnny Sexton were a key part of Doris’ preparation for the biggest moment of his career to date.
They were particularly helpful in advising him how to communicate with the referee following his struggles with Frank Murphy at provincial level last month, albeit Doris says he found Sunday’s man in the middle Luke Pearce easier to converse with in any case.
Timing his interjections was a big thing he took from chats with Ireland captains past and present. “Being a subtle but consistent presence,” Doris says.
Like, going in at half-time, I had a little word. Just, ‘If there’s anything that you’re seeing from us or that you want from us…’ Just little things like that.
“But it’s something that probably takes a bit of time and experience to get properly good at.”
It takes a keen eye and a good ear, too, as it turns out.
“You have to have more of a bird’s-eye view of the game in order to hit the nail on the head when you’re having those conversations with the ref,” Doris adds.
“You have to be aware of the trends and momentum swings in the game, and what’s happening at the breakdown and what’s happening in the scrum.
“So, that’s the challenging part of it: being accurate in those conversations based off what you’re seeing.
“But at the same time, you’ve got other experienced players who are seeing things as well and coming to you. You trust what others are seeing and telling you, not just what you’re seeing.”
Off the field, meanwhile, the most difficult aspect to captaincy was that Doris found it more difficult to switch off in the evenings leading up to the game.
The Leinster back row found himself consumed not by thoughts of his own game, but by what his 22 teammates might be thinking about their respective roles. How could be best encourage them before training? What would they need to hear after training?
There were more media obligations, too, and then there was the captain’s meeting. “Just little bits throughout the week that, when you’re doing them for the first time, require more thinking,” Doris explains.
It was all well worth it come Sunday evening, though.
The best part was “the feeling after the game”.
“It feels a little bit more rewarding given you put in a little bit more work”, Doris adds, “and not just around your own performance.”
When the 38-cap Ireland international swings back from Ballina to Dublin next Sunday evening, most of last week’s stresses will be alleviated by the return of full-time captain Peter O’Mahony, who is set to be fit to feature against Wales.
Only the pressure to become the first team in the 25-year Six Nations era to win back-to-back Grand Slams will remain, and Doris will shoulder his fair share of that weight as Ireland round off their tournament with a Triple Crown run of fixtures.
Farrell’s side will take it game by game and all that jazz, but Doris sees no point in beating around the bush: the double Slam is firmly on the agenda.
“It’s something we’ve spoken about. It’s a very exciting prospect, the chance of doing back-to-back Grand Slams and creating a little bit of history. That’s definitely a motivation for us.
“But if you get lost on that and get pulled into the future, you’ll come unstuck week to week.
“I think it’s important to have touched on it and have it as sort of our overarching ambition, but then you come back to ‘process’ and how you get there. And that’s by being present and preparing as best as possible week to week.”
Lucozade Sport today unveiled Ireland back row Caelan Doris and Ireland Women’s Sevens player Vikki Wall as its new Lucozade Sport Athletes.