Coming into the 2025 Six Nations Caelan Doris seemed nailed on to captain Andy Farrell's 2025 Lions Tour to Australia and was being tipped by every pundit under the sun. He had of course taken over the Irish captaincy at a prime time and appeared in over 40 consecutive Irish games.
An underwhelming Six Nations campaign, however, has put those certainties on ice and with every passing week momentum and consensus seem to be sliding away from the Ireland and Leinster captain.
Doris still led his side to four out of five wins and beat every team in the Championship bar France, however, crucially his side appeared to finish the campaign on a downward slope, failing to flatter against either France or Italy.
That said, Doris captained Ireland to wins over all the Home Nations, including a comprehensive defeat of England where the UK media's emergent captaincy favourite Maro Itoje is from.
Itoje was handed the England captaincy at the outset of this Six Nations and enjoyed an admittedly stellar tournament, like Doris, leading his side to four wins from five.
While Itoje lost the rub of the green and the referee in his side's loss to Ireland, England picked up a significant win over France, collected momentum as the tournament went on and ultimately finished a place ahead of Ireland in the standings.
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15 March 2025; Ireland captain Caelan Doris and referee Luke Pearce during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Italy and Ireland at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
UK media pushing agenda for Itoje to be Lions captain over Caelan Doris
Despite Ireland's defeat of England, the two countries differing form in the final two rounds of Six Nations action has seen the previous captain-in-waiting Caelan Doris thrown out with the bath water in favour of Itoje who was only appointed England captain at the outset of this campaign.
As the tides of public opinion in the UK continue to turn against Doris, two of The Times' most prolific and experienced journalists have declared the captaincy argument a non-contest, throwing all their weight behind England's Maro Itoje.
Writing in The Times, Stephen Jones who has now covered ten Lions tours was resounding in his support of Itoje saying he can not remember any other player as far ahead as him.
In all my ten Lions tours to date, I cannot remember a captaincy contender who stands out as far ahead as Maro Itoje from some other worthy candidates. For rugby’s image as well as for Australia 2025, Itoje is unbeatable.
Stuart Barnes was similarly uncompromising in his selection of Itoje, warning Andy Farrell against making the same mistake Warren Gatland made four years ago on the 2021 tour to South Africa.
Warren Gatland should have made Itoje his captain for the previous Lions tour. Andy Farrell will not make the same mistake. He’s an outstanding Lions veteran of two tours who has been reinvigorated by the England captaincy. The only contender.
7 June 2017; Maro Itoje, left, and Peter O'Mahony of the British & Irish Lions during the match between Auckland Blues and the British & Irish Lions at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
While in UK circles momentum may have swung in the favour of Itoje who other pundits are now also rowing in behind, very little will separate the two leaders when the time comes for Andy Farrell to select his on-field chargé d'affaires.
Speaking on their podcast For The Love of Rugby, former England internationals Dan Cole and Ben Young also selected Maro Itoje as their captain, relying on the security of Itoje's starting position as justification for the call.
Itoje notably has the benefit of experience and the pedigree of having already appeared on two Lions Tours. Doris on the other hand, has an already-existing relationship with Andy Farrell which could prove crucial to the good harmony of the side in Australia.
Andy Farrell will present his captain alongside his team announcement in an event in London on May 8th.
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