Former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan has backed Brian O’Driscoll to retain the Lions captaincy when Ian McGeechan’s squad travel to South Africa in just over 10 months’ time.
O’Driscoll led the Lions during the 2005 tour of New Zealand until a shoulder injury ended his involvement just a few minutes into the opening Test and O’Sullivan believes he would make the perfect skipper in 2009.
The 29-year-old, who has 85 international caps to his name, has currently captained Ireland on 38 occasions, leading them to an impressive 28 Test wins since 2002.
“I know Brian better than anybody and he’s definitely Lions captain material,” said O’Sullivan, who was part of Sir Clive Woodward’s Lions coaching set up three years ago.
“He’s certainly captain material for Ireland and the Lions. There’s no doubt in my mind that here’s more than capable of doing the job.
“He was very unfortunate the last time round that, when we came to the business end of the tour, he was injured and didn’t really get to captain the Lions in the Test series.”
