Leinster announce club captain ahead of new season

Leinster Rugby have announced that Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton will succeed Isa Nacewa as club captain following his retirement from rugby at the end of last season.

Sexton takes over the captaincy after a historic double winning season where the province claimed both the PRO14 title as well as the European Champions Cup. Flanker Rhys Ruddock will support Sexton as vice-captain with head coach Leo Cullen commenting that the club could not have two players that better represent the values and behaviours that they want to be judged on.

“Johnny is a player and person who is always striving to improve and get better and he has driven incredibly high standards during his time at Leinster, where he has become one of the most decorated players in the game," Cullen told the club's website. “He has already carried out the role of captain of the team on a number of occasions and we are very fortunate to be able to announce Johnny as club captain for the 2018/19 season as he is a player that greatly deserves this honour. “He is hugely excited by the challenge of leading his teammates over the course of the season as we look to maximise the team’s potential. “Likewise Rhys, we have seen him grow into an outstanding leader at Leinster and indeed he has captained Ireland on tour to Japan and again last season against Fiji and I think that this appointment today is further evidence of that growth. “You couldn’t get two players that better represent the values and behaviours that we want to be judged on than Johnny and Rhys and I look forward to working even closer with them over the coming months.”

Sexton is the third longest serving player at the club behind Rob Kearney and Devin Toner and former teammate Eoin O'Malley believes the Ireland pivot is the logical successor to Nacewa as the club's captain. "Certainly Johnny is up there," said O'Malley on episode 63 of The Hard Yards. "I think people would argue there's too much on his shoulders as a kicker, and as an out-half, and all the rest of that, but I don't think he cares. He loves it. "He wants to be that guy and if he's not going to be captain he's certainly going to be making decisions anyway. "He's probably my pick but then you obviously have the other issue that he's not going to be there for the full season. He's going to be out a lot of the time." [Listen to the full discussion from the 42:30 mark below]