For Peter O'Mahony, the Ireland captaincy comes in the relative twilight of his career, with the Corkman taking over the leadership role at the age of 34.
O'Mahony replaces Johnny Sexton as Ireland captain for this year's Six Nations, having stood down from the same position at Munster earlier this season.
When suggestions whirled of who would replace Sexton, O'Mahony was the outstanding candidate in terms of experience - but some felt that coach Andy Farrell would have been better served picking a more youthful captain, to better set Ireland up for the World Cup cycle ahead.
Speaking at the launch of Virgin Media's coverage of the Six Nations this week, Alan Quinlan explained why he felt that that narrative was disrespectful towards Peter O'Mahony - and tipped the flanker to play on with Ireland past the end of 2024.
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Alan Quinlan makes intriguing point on Peter O'Mahony captaincy
Munster legend Alan Quinlan spoke to Balls.ie earlier this week, and said he was thrilled for his fellow Munster man Peter O'Mahony taking his well-deserved position as captain.
Quinlan said that O'Mahony's leadership was on the same level as Paul O'Connell, Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Wood, and all the legends who captained Quinlan during his playing career.
The ex-Ireland back row also slammed those suggesting O'Mahony was a "short term" pick, and said he hoped O'Mahony would hold on to the role for more than just this year:
He was obviously one of the candidates that everyone in the media, fans, and outside Irish rugby were talking about as a candidate. We were wondering whether Andy Farrell would go long-term, short-term, medium-term.
It’s even a bit disrespectful saying “short-term.” Peter O’Mahony could be in this role for a couple of seasons, who knows?
We saw what happened with Duane Vermeulen, Deon Fourie, and even Johnny Sexton - the age profile of those players at the World Cup, and how important they were to their teams as well. Peter O’Mahony - it’s highly unlikely but you could see him in Australia in a couple of years! The way the modern game has gone, where players can have breaks…who knows?
O'Mahony will be 38 by the time the next World Cup comes around in Australia - the same age as Johnny Sexton was when he led the team in France last winter.
18 January 2024; In attendance at Virgin Media Park in Cork ahead of VMTV's coverage of the 2024 Six Nations, are, from left, Virgin Media Park ambassador Andrew Conway, with Virgin Media Television analysts Fiona Hayes and Alan Quinlan. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
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Alan Quinlan also said that he felt the appointment of O'Mahony made sense to ease Ireland into the next World Cup cycle, with stability important as the team reacts to the disappointing exit from last year's World Cup:
He’s a warrior, very confrontational, and he speaks really well...I think he’s a really good leader and he’s proven that over the years. I’m delighted for him, and I think he’s someone that can keep a nice bit of stability here.
Short-term here, I think Andy Farrell just needs to get a bit of stability. The Six Nations is really important! There’s major disappointment about what happened at the World Cup, so this transitional handover to Peter is a sensible one.
I’m sure Andy Farrell will be looking at other players who could potentially do this role as well.
Ireland's first assignment of the Six Nations is a mouthwatering away clash with France in Marseille on Friday, February 2nd. Kick-off is at 8pm and the game is live on Virgin Media.
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