Munster’s Paul O’Connell named Lions captain

Limerick man, Munster captain, and Irish Grand Slam winner, Paul O’Connell will lead and captain the British and Irish Lions on their tour to Soutrh Africa this Summer. The Limerick native is the first ever captain of a Lions touring party to hail from this area and his appointment came on the back of some heightened anticipation as to his announcement.

Stating his special character and quality in leadership, Lions touring couch Ian McGeechan stated that Paul O’Connell was a proven leader with both Munster and Ireland and was theperfect candidate to “drive thepack forward”.

The Munster lock said; “It was a huge honour to be in this squad and to see the leaders that have gone before makes me very proud top lead this group of players. When you see the legends of the game it gives great encouragement for the job ahead.”

Paul went on to say that he received a call from former captain, Brian O’Driscoll during the week “and he gave me words of encouragement. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything differently or saying anything less or anything more than what I normally do on the pitch, but I’ll be leaning on th eexperience of the coaches, players and the leaders in this squad. If we believe in the task at hand then that can be the secret to our success. 

O’Connell will lead seven other Munster players of the entire 37 man squad that will travel to South Africa and equal the record set for the most Lions representatives to hail from one rugby club. 

The entire squad is as follows;

2009 British & Irish Lions squad

Fullback
Lee Byrne (Wales)
Rob Kearney (Ireland)

Wing
Shane Williams (Wales)
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Ugo Moyne (England)
Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland)
Tommy Bowe (Ireland)

Centre
Tom Shanklin (Wales)
Jamie Roberts (Wales)
Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
Keith Earls (Ireland)
Riki Flutey (England)

Fly Half
Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
Stephen Jones (Wales)

Scrum Half
Mike Phillips (Wales)
Harry Ellis (England)
Tomas O’Leary (Ireland)

No 8
Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)
Andy Powell (Wales)

Flanker
David Wallace (Ireland)
Stephen Ferris (Ireland)
Alan Quinlan (Ireland)
Joe Worsley (England)
Martyn Williams (Wales)

Lock
Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales)
Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
Donncha O’Callaghan (Ireland)

Simon Shaw (England)
Nathan Hines (Scotland)

Prop
Gethin Jenkins (Wales)
Adam Jones (Wales)
Andrew Sheridan (England)
Phil Vickery (England)
Euan Murray (Scotland)

Hooker
Jerry Flannery (Ireland)
Lee Mears (England)
Matthew Rees (Wales)