HAVING ONLY CAPTAINED Leinster for the first time on New Year’s Day, it would be a big leap for Caelan Doris to be catapulted into the Ireland captaincy for the upcoming Six Nations.
But that’s exactly what some Ireland fans would like to see. 25-year-old Doris is a key first-choice player for Andy Farrell’s side and has been leading by example in recent years.
He is a former Ireland U20 captain and some supporters view him as an ideal candidate to lead the new chapter for Farrell’s side following the retirement of Johnny Sexton after last year’s World Cup.
Doris himself isn’t sure he is in the mix alongside the likes of Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, and Peter O’Mahony ahead of Wednesday’s squad announcement.
“It would obviously be a massive honour but to be honest I think there’s quite a few ahead of me in the pecking order,” said Doris after Leinster’s Champions Cup win over Stade Français at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
“Myself and Hugo [Keenan] have been in the leadership group for the last couple of years and it’s been a good learning curve and I’m eager to continue to add more and develop my leadership more but there’s guys there ahead of me who I think would do a great job.”
Doris was handed the Leinster captaincy a couple of weeks ago when they hosted Ulster at the RDS, stepping in at a late stage when James Ryan was ruled out.
“It was an interesting one because it wasn’t for the whole week, James Ryan was due to play and later on in the week he’d done a lot of heavy lifting early on but it was an honour for me definitely, it had been quite a few years since I was,” said Doris.
“I also got a sense of appreciation for the work that those lads do because there are quite a few extra responsibilities on you over the captain’s run day and the day of the game, just little things that you mightn’t think of.
“I enjoy it, it was disappointing, the result, but it was a pretty cool thing to do.”
One of the most obvious extra responsibilities is interacting with the referee and Doris admits he struggled in that regard during the defeat to Ulster.
“You’re dealing with the ref obviously a little bit during the game, communication in huddles, making sure everyone is on top of little bits, you are less focused on your game, you’re kind of taking a wider perspective.
“I probably struggled a little bit. I was probably initially eager to talk to Frank [Murphy] after both of their tries because I thought there was a knock-on on one and a potential ahead of kicking but I was wrong on both and I annoyed him a little bit doing that and struggled a little bit from there. A bit of a learning curve.”
Even if he doesn’t expect to be the captain when Farrell names his Six Nations squad on Wednesday, Doris will head into the championship happy with the trajectory of his form.
The Mayo man was outstanding in Leinster’s seven-try win over Stade, scoring twice himself and contributing strongly to several others.
“I was happy with how I went,” said Doris. “I’ve sort of been, I’ve said it to you guys before, but my attack in-game has slipped away a little bit.
“I haven’t had as many carries as I would have liked so far this season. I got quite a few today and I was just hungry to get on the ball. That’s traditionally been a strength of mine and that’s probably the bit of the game I enjoy most, so I was happy with how it went.”
Doris had a nice blend of direct ball-carrying and late sweep passes out the back. He credits the communication from players around him as being key to making good decisions in that regard.
As Doris’ profile has grown in recent years, he has been increasingly targeted by opposition sides, as in the World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand last year.
Sometimes, he just has to take heavy contact from two or three tacklers but he’s determined to make defences pay if they’re over-focusing on him.
“The best players, like if two defenders are going to mark you then there’s going to be space elsewhere,” said Doris.
“So it’s always about making the right decision. If a plus pass is on, if it’s on out the back, if it’s on on your inside or if it’s on for you to carry, and there’s been a lot of emphasis on picking the right decision with our plus or minus or out the back which I think, for me, has probably taken away a little bit from the mindset of just beating someone one-on-one.
“So it’s about having both of those, everything live and picking the right decision. The best players are able to do that and that’s what I want to get better at.”
