The secret is out now.
Rory Best is Ireland captain for the upcoming Six Nations campaign – that much we know.
What has only emerged, however, is that Best was selected for the honour after a secret ballot by the Irish squad.
The IRFU confirmed to Press Association that Best topped the votes after players were polled during their squad get-together at Carton House earlier this month. It is notable that Joe Schmidt left the decision down to his players rather than imposing a decision.
There has been no indication of the other players involved in the vote but Leinster coach Leo Cullen did mention Sean O’Brien and Ireland vice-captain Jamie Heaslip when asked about the Best appointment, last week.
At Wednesday’s official Six Nations launch, Schmidt heaped praise on his new skipper and jokingly referred to his ‘a gentleman farmer’.
For his part, Best told us he was up for the mammoth challenge of replacing outgoing captain Paul O’Connell. He said:
“Speaking to Paul before he took over from Brian O’Driscoll, it was a big challenge stepping into those shoes.
“And for Brian, before that, taking over from Woody [Keith Wood]. Every time, there’s a bit of a change in the captaincy, you’re filling big shoes because they’ve been pivotal parts of Irish rugby.
“It’s a challenge, but I think the one thing that certainly Paulie did really well was he didn’t change how he went about things. He got put in there because of how he was around the place.
“You don’t have to reinvent things just because your captain. You just keep trying to lead by example.”
UPDATE: An IRFU spokesperson has told us that claims about a secret poll are inaccurate as the union does not reveal internal team functions.
