The Lion King in waiting? Why Ireland’s new talisman Caelan Doris fits the bill

It will be another six months before Andy Farrell finally has to choose his British & Irish Lions captain for the 2025 expedition to Australia. Plenty of time for the landscape to change and, theoretically, for one or two surprise contenders to emerge from the shrubbery. Until, that is, you sit down with the staggeringly impressive Caelan Doris and realise there is little need for Farrell to look anywhere else.

A bold prediction? Hardly. It is not rocket science that a world-class player with the universal respect of his peers, a university degree in psychology and a warm smile might just fit the bill. Ireland have produced some illustrious Lions captains in the pro era, from Brian O’Driscoll to Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony, and another top-drawer candidate lurks quietly in the wings.

Because whether or not he is confirmed, as most anticipate, on Wednesday as Ireland’s skipper for the upcoming November Tests, the 26-year-old Leinster back-rower is every coach’s dream. Even on a damp Tuesday morning he is already eyeing the next big challenge, batteries recharged and eyes gleaming after last Saturday’s win over Munster in front of 80,468 spectators at Croke Park. “You just kind of get into the zone. I don’t think I’m crazy aggressive; I’d say I’m relatively consistent on and off the pitch. But of course you’re competitive and want to play on the edge and win.”

Alongside the footwork, physicality and footballing nous that make him such an effective No 8, however, Doris is no ordinary jock. The son of two psychoanalysts – his maternal grandfather Michael Sweetman was a prominent Irish industrialist and political figure who tragically died in the Staines air crash in 1972 – he might have pursued a very different career. Or maybe not, given what he found when he returned to his native County Mayo this summer. “I was back home in June, flicking through some old stuff, and found a book I’d made when I was making my holy communion at the age of 10 or 11.

“It had a page for future ambitions and where I wanted to live. On it was written, ‘I want to be a rugby or a football player’. That was kind of cool because I don’t remember that being something I was going after.” The follow-up entry – “I want to have a house in Mayo, London and New York” – also prompted some amusement. “I’ll be a while playing rugby if I want to do that.”

View image in fullscreen Caelen Doris captained Ireland for the first time during this year’s Six Nations and is a mainstay at No 8 for the national team. Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

To understand the real Doris, even so, look at a map of Ireland and trace your finger westwards. Leaving Galway to the south and Sligo to the east, head north up the River Moy past the town of Ballina to the Atlantic coast and, finally, you will reach the tiny hamlet of Lacken, where he grew up. The post office and the shop were sad casualties of Covid but the area remains close to his heart. “It’s beautiful. On a good day it’s hard to beat. My parents are still based there and I get back when I can.

“It’s very rural … I think there’s about 500 people in the parish. It’s about 10 minutes to the closest village and 20 minutes to the closest town. At my primary school, which was walking distance from where I grew up, there were 30 to 35 pupils in the whole school across eight years. In my year, I only had one other class-mate.”

Fortunately he and his solitary companion, David, became good friends but the 12-year-old Doris subsequently leapt at the chance to board at Blackrock College in Dublin, one of Ireland’s most renowned rugby nurseries and also O’Driscoll’s alma mater. Perhaps his genes would have propelled him into the national squad anyway but he thinks otherwise. “I’m more of a nurture over nature guy. Of course there’s a genetic element of it but I’d have had a rugby ball or a Gaelic football in hand from a very early age. We had a pretty big garden and lived by a school with a pitch so there was always something going on. Then you go to Blackrock, which is a massive rugby school. I loved it from the start.”

He has been on a steep upward trajectory ever since. The 6ft 4in forward captained Ireland Under-20s in 2018, made his Leinster debut in the same year and won the first of his 44 senior Ireland caps in 2020 under the captaincy of Johnny Sexton, whom he’d grown up admiring from afar. “It was strange initially. There was a bit of impostor syndrome: ‘What the hell am I doing in the same dressing room as this guy?’”

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Now, suddenly, Sexton has retired and Doris, who was in Cardiff this week to promote this year’s Investec Champions Cup, is fast becoming a similar talisman for Leinster and Ireland. He led the national side for the first time against Italy in February and was appointed Leinster’s captain last month. The mental side of the game – “It’s definitely an area I’m interested in ….” – fascinates him, as does the potential for captaincy to enhance his growth as a player and a person. “I want to get the best out of myself from a playing and a human perspective. If there’s extra responsibility … it allows you to increase your capacity.” This includes his inner self. “Anything from being more open with friends and family or getting things off my chest or sharing something with someone. I do weekly therapy sessions and mindfulness to fill up the tank.” Sea swimming and saunas are other regular pastimes. “I’ve also started doing a bit of hot yoga recently, which I’ve enjoyed. It all just gives you a bit of balance and calm.”

He will need plenty of both if a high-profile Lions role does come. As a kid, Doris remembers accompanying his father, Chris, to a local village pub at breakfast time to cheer on the Lions in 2005 and 2009 and Australia 2025 has long been on his bucket list. “It’s a pretty special thing isn’t it? It’s definitely a goal. There’s a lot of rugby to be played before then for Leinster and Ireland. But, yeah, I would absolutely love to be on the tour.”

Before that, of course, comes next month’s looming reunion with the All Blacks, the first meeting of the sides since last year’s fateful World Cup quarter-final. That anniversary fell this week but Doris is more focused on embracing the next phase of his career. “Of course there are hard days, but there are so many good ones as well,” he said. “I really enjoy the journey of it all: the craic with the lads, the friendships, the travel, the opportunities. I’m trying to soak it all in.” The country boy from Lacken would make a cracking Lion king.

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