DAN SHEEHAN was held high by Jonah Lomu and insisted captaining Ireland will be easy because he will – again – be standing on the shoulders of giants.
Hooker Sheehan has been selected as captain to lead Ireland this afternoon as they look to secure the Triple Crown against Wales in Cardiff.
The 26-year-old was chosen to lead the team in the absence of the injured Caelan Doris and will do so for the first time, having previously captained Leinster on occasion.
But he insisted that it has been made easy this week because there are so many leaders in the Ireland XV.
Sheehan said: “This team sorta runs itself with the leaders that is in it, there is a handful of people that obviously could have been named captain.
“Pete (O’Mahony), Tadhg Beirne, Jamo (Jamison Gibson-Park), Jack Conan, a lot of them have huge amounts of leadership and they run the week as well.
“Obviously my name gets the ‘C’ beside it but we know in our group that we rely on a lot of people.
“It is not my responsibility to get everyone going, I’m relying on everyone else in our leadership group that we have.
“It has been quite similar for a long time now and I rely on a lot of them.”
And the team photograph today can take the place of a lost prized picture in the Sheehan household, of when he got to meet All Blacks legend Lomu when he was four-years-old.
Sheehan revealed: “There was a photo but I can’t remember where it is anymore. We moved house a few times so it’s probably been lost.
“I actually think it was as simple as a family connection, I think my auntie was in a marketing agency at the time (it was a photoshoot for Ballygowan).
“They needed a kid willing to shave his head and my parents willingly put me forward!
“I have a vague memory of it. I was very young but I remember it being pretty cool.
“I remember rocking back into school the next day with the hair cut and getting a good giggle out of the lads.”
HEAVY FAVOURITES
But today’s game is not expected to be a close shave with Ireland now 22-point favourites to beat a Wales side that have lost 14 in a row and dispensed with coach Warren Gatland.
Interim coach Matt Sherratt has changed it up making eight changes from the side that lost to Italy in Rome.
And Sheehan acknowledged Ireland must be on their guard to get the win to secure the Triple Crown and stay on course for a Grand Slam.
He added: “They have been on a losing run of late but they’re a passionate nation. It’s not in any way an easy fixture.
“It’s tricky when it’s the week of the Test game to sort of switch it up or try to predict so we focused on what we can control
“It’s (The Triple Crown) a hugely special trophy obviously, I remember being a kid and I think it came into school one day and thinking that was the best thing ever.
“We need to make sure we don’t take it for granted at all, that it is a massive trophy to the Irish people, something that we are hugely proud of having won in the past.
“So that is something that is on the line tomorrow and we want to make sure that we come away with a win, by the performance and not getting ahead of ourselves.”
