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Sean O'Brien should be Lions captain

Roar Guru
16th February, 2017
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Ireland's Sean O'Brien should lead the Lions into battle with New Zealand. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Roar Guru
16th February, 2017
19

Considering his recent return from injury and imposing performances against the All Blacks, Sean O’Brien should be in serious contention to captain the British and Irish Lions.

Openside flanker and scrum half are the best positions for the captain of a team, as players in both positions are most likely to cover the width of the pitch. If your captain can point out certain breakdown trends to the referee, then it is feasible that you could gain a significant advantage. Rugby can be a simple game, if you win the breakdown battle, you are likely to win the game.

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At his best, O’Brien is the most complete openside flanker in world rugby, and is certainly the premium openside the Lions have available. He combines hard carrying, suffocating breakdown work, great subtle link-play, and huge aggresion at the tackle.

He has troubled the All Blacks more than any Welsh backrowers in years. Take his last performance versus New Zealand as an example. He won three turnovers, made 20 carries and beat two defenders. To put those stats into perspective, he made more metres (36) and beat more defenders than the entire starting New Zealand back row that day.

The starting Welsh back row combined against New Zealand in the third Test, last June, made fewer metres (32) with ball in hand than O’Brien did. Sam Warburton made fewer carries (15) in his last three fixtures against the Kiwis combined.

The performance was in no way an anomaly – there is something about playing the All Blacks that brings out O’Brien’s best. The last time New Zealand visited the Aviva stadium, in 2013, O’Brien was man of the match, outplaying the great Richie McCaw.

His recent form suggests he is some way back to his best, after yet another injury. He was effective even in Ireland’s loss to Scotland. Despite the Scots’ forward dominance, he made 38 metres and beat four defenders. He, along with CJ Stander, also applied pressure at the breakdwon, winning one turnover with an extremely powerful body position.

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Of course, there is also the option of moving O’Brien to 6, to accommodate for an out-and-out 7 like Sam Warburton, Hamish Watson or Josh Van Der Flier. However, this could mean excluding proven, deserving players such as CJ Stander, Chris Robshaw and Peter O’Mahony.

Either way, Sean O’Brien has to start, and if he’s a starter, why not make him captain?

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