Stephen Ferris believes his Ireland team-mates Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll will share the workload when it comes to leading the Lions this summer.
O’Connell was appointed tour captain last month but Ferris believes that O’Driscoll will also have a key role to play on the Lions’ 10-match tour of South Africa.
"Paul’s a great motivator, geeing guys up and leading from the front and all the guys here will feed off that. I know I certainly do,” said Ferris, who will be making his first tour as a Lion, in comparison to O’Connell and O’Driscoll who will be embarking on their second and third tours respectively.
“Paul and Brian get on really well and they shared the workload a good bit during the Six Nations. I think they’ll perform a similar role here.
"Brian is a bit quieter but he plays an important role with every team he plays for. And guys like Phil Vickery have also been influential already on the tour."
Having now experienced his first week as a Lion, Ferris has been impressed with the combination of hard work and ‘R and R’.
The Ulster flanker has been putting plenty of effort in on the training field and in specially designed altitude chambers but he admits that there has also been plenty of time to enjoy getting to know his new team-mates.
"We’ve been working hard at training sessions, but there has also been time for some rest. Recovery will be vital on a longer tour,” added Ferris.
"We’ve been meeting all the guys and getting to know them. We’ve had time to have fun, we’ve all stood up and told the guys about ourselves – whether we have kids, talked about our girlfriends or wives and so on.
"We’ve relaxed and have been for a few quiet beers and we also watched the Leinster game which was great.
“It’s just brilliant to have all the countries coming together and the team atmosphere is fantastic – I thought it would be much harder – but everyone gets along.
"You soon realise that you are all rugby boys and, that in this case, you have one very common purpose: to do full justice to the passion and history of the Lions."
