The scene is a vast sports hall in Blackrock College, Dublin, the boarding school for high achievers on the swanky south side of the Irish capital.
A thousand students and teachers fall silent to listen to a 17-year-old Caelan Doris, the captain of the SCT – senior cup team.
“There’s always a bit of a rally to build the atmosphere before the cup team plays,” says Peter Smyth, who coached Doris at school, and on into the Leinster academy.
“A past pupil who has become an international like Jordi Murphy or Joey Carbery will say a few words, there are a couple of songs and then the SCT captain would get up and speak. And clear as day I can remember the speech Caelan gave, I would consider it one of the best I’ve ever heard, talking about the school, talking about how great these days were that we were living in, and how they can never be taken for granted.
“You could tell the thought he’d put into it, and it was passionate, and when you talk about the umbrella term of leadership, he had all those things in abundance from an early age.”
Eight years later, Doris is the new captain of Ireland, the world’s No 1 ranked team, as they face New Zealand on Friday night. The Leinster No 8 is the favourite to lead the British & Irish Lions on next summer’s tour to Australia, too.
For many a UK rugby fan, Doris may still be a mystery, even after 43 international caps. Speak to those who know him best, though, and they vouch with utter conviction for his character and readiness for the job.
“In his first year in the Leinster academy,” recalls Brian O’Driscoll, the great former Ireland and Lions centre who also attended Blackrock, “I was in regular contact with [then Leinster senior coach] Stuart Lancaster, and he said ‘there are a few really talented players coming through, but wait until you see this Doris lad. He’s the one.’”
Doris had come to Dublin from Lacken, near Ballina in County Mayo – west coast to east; a village to the bustling city. But it was not such a daunting step, as his parents are psychotherapists who moved from Dublin to Mayo, and Doris’s elder brother Rian, and their dad Chris and uncles went to Blackrock.
Doris, donning a black scrum cap is one of those always-there types – first up with a midfield tackle if he is standing off a line-out; first with the carry from the back field, as a No 8 often is; first to hit a defensive ruck. He has a languid, slightly gangly running style; he cajoles and claps his hands, understatedly.
Smyth, who is now the Irish Rugby Football Union’s head of player development, tells The i Paper: “It’s not so much the step or the dash or the show, it’s his ability to manipulate his body in contact situations that is unique. Some No 8s are a power carrier or a link player; Caelan is a hybrid of three styles.”
O’Driscoll echoes the theme: “He’s got a lot of strings to his bow: good off-loader, vision very good, scores tries. There were question marks against the really physical teams – that comes from the [2023] World Cup quarter-final, when [New Zealand flanker] Sam Cane chopped the life out of him and took away our go-forward.
“His [Doris’s] physical gain in the summer was really impressive. That alleviated any concerns.”
Doris himself comes across as open and gregarious. He has played under Johnny Sexton and Pete O’Mahony as captains, and has the 2009 Lions skipper Paul O’Connell as a coach. With O’Mahony absent, Doris led Ireland in their famous 25-24 win away in over South Africa in July.
Back home, as Leinster captain, he made 21 tackles and 21 carries in October’s win over Munster in front of a URC record 80,468 crowd at Croke Park. As a former Gaelic footballer he found the occasion extra special.
“A great atmosphere,” Doris tells The i, in a phone interview from the launch of this season’s Investec Champions Cup, “and 5.45 is a lovely time for a kick-off in Dublin; people fairly well-oiled by a few pints.”
O’Driscoll, who was the Lions’ captain in 2005, predicts Doris will have the role in 2025.
How is Doris coping with that expectation?
“Ignore it as best as possible,” he says. “You set your goals in pre-season, and getting on the Lions is a goal of mine. But once you get into the season, it’s week on week, and not looking too far ahead.
“I remember from a pretty young age, the Lions tour in New Zealand, 2005, getting up early and going down to the club 10 minutes down the road with my dad, watching the games in there. The same with 2009. It’s always a pretty exciting time, every four years.”
For his part, the incumbent Lions coach Andy Farrell is delighted with Doris as his on-field leader, saying on Wednesday: “He’s thriving in the role now, he’s walking tall. He’s certainly popular among the group because there’s no ego there whatsoever. On top of that, he’s not in bad form, is he?”