Bon Courage Peter

Now that justice has been done (as far as many are concerned) and Rory Best has been promoted to keep the Welsh players company in Australia, it is equally satisfying to find that Peter O'Mahony has been awarded the temporary tenure of captaincy for Ireland's imminent invasion of North America. 

In truth, with the cream of our crop off hunting Wallabies, there were not exactly many alternatives to big Pete.  In fact, should the Cork maestro himself be summoned to Australia as a replacement (and stranger things have happened) the only other member of Ireland's tour party with apparent captaincy credentials would be fellow-flanker Ulster's Chris Henry.

I have a lot of time for big O'Mahony. He is my kind of player: abrasive, belligerent and totally committed.I hope that there will be room for him in the first XV whenever big Stephen Ferris vacates the treatment table. In fact, should Ireland's summer vacation to the other side of the Atlantic prove to be a big success, one could make a case for keeping Peter as the captain. After all, O'Driscoll is in the twilight of his career and Heaslip has not been a big hit as captain. The only two alternatives, thinks me, are Rory and big Paul O'Connell.

Finally, while I am in the vicinity, so to speak, I noticed on my internet travels that Canada are ranked thirteen in the world and Uncle Sam is perched at number sixteen in the world chart, a mere seven places below the under-performing Irish. Well, it got my pretty little head thinking that an ambush could await our troops in early June. Both those lovely neighbours must sense, like Italy and Scotland immediately before them, that a first win against the men in green is a distinct possibility. Ireland are not just missing ten Lions tourists, but are going to have to wing it, to coin a phrase, without such current sicknotes as Earls, Ferris, Gilroy, Marshall, and Ryan. These are all mitigating factors, but as the higher-ranked country, Ireland are nevertheless expected to win their forthcoming two tests. In some respects, they are on a hiding to nothing. It is indeed going to prove a test of O'Mahony's captaincy qualities how he and his depleted squad can fashion two victories when the odds are kind of against them.