A previous trend in picking Lions captains has been to anoint players who have captained their country on a regular basis. Ireland's Conor Murray bucks that trend.
Sam Warburton was twice captain in 2013 and 2017 until Peter O'Mahony took over in the first Test against New Zealand on the latter tour. The flanker, who had already captained Ireland and Munster, deputised for the injured Warburton at Eden Park. Alun Wyn Jones also stepped in in 2013 for the injured Warburton in the decisive third test against Australia.
Before that Paul O'Connell led from the front in South Africa with Brian O'Driscoll, Martin Johnson and Gavin Hastings all performing the role previously and all also captains of their countries.
Psychologists say captains are not always born but can be made
Stretching back to Ciaran Fitzgerald, who captained the Lions in 1983 after skippering Ireland to Five Nations success and Bill Beaumont preceding him in the 1980 tour, it has been a traditional leaning.
Murray's selection is all the more novel in that Iain Henderson captains Ulster and captained Ireland for the first time earlier this year with Stuart Hogg, the Scotland captain and Owen Farrell, the England captain also in the Lions squad.
Interestingly, coach Warren Gatland has gone for Hogg as captain with Farrell in the side to face the Lions in the opening match of the series tomorrow. What does that mean? That Farrell is not a test match starter, that Hogg is a better captain. Then, if Hogg is a test match starter, why make Murray the tour captain.
And we know how Gatland feels about Farrell. He said it.
“At the (Lions) administration day, I asked the players all to vote and pick four for a leadership group. It was interesting that he (Farrell) ended up with the most votes out of anyone,” said Gatland.
According to the Association for Applied Sports Psychology, a captain embodies three C’s when leading their team: caring, courageous and consistent. Other commentators pick five traits for the captain’s role and others 10 characteristics.
Although the Irish scrumhalf is a bold choice, Gatland hasn't made an impetuous decision
What the psychologists also say is captains are not always born but can be made. Fitzgerald and Willie John McBride might disagree but one thing on which they may settle is the importance of how the captain reacts to the environment and how he copes with the additional burdens of talking to the coach, media, dealing with upset if it arrives and even the more intimate environment of a stadium without spectators.
Murray has never had to do any of these things before and how he may react on the pitch, when a pack leader like Maro Itoje says he wants to go to the corner for a penalty as Farrell adopts a kick the points pose, is a decision he has never had to make apart from once for Munster in 2014 and never Ireland.
It begs the question of what Gatland understands about Murray that other coaches including Joe Schmidt, Andy Farrell and a clutch he has played under with Munster have been unable to see.
It is Murray’s third tour with the Lions and Gatland’s fourth as coach, so although the Irish scrumhalf is a bold choice, Gatland hasn’t made an impetuous decision.
He has seen how Murray operates within the group but he is also a fan of change and unpredictability. Gatland sees difference as opportunity as much as risk. When Wales named a leadership group under Gatland in 2018, team captain Alun Wyn Jones wasn't on it as the coach wanted other voices in the team to be heard.
Those nuances can alter a team and maybe Murray's voice is emblematic of that, one that is not drowned out by the stronger, louder characters like the England and Scotland captains, Itoje or Ken Owens. None are Trappist monks.
What may also help is that Murray will not have to be a performing captain as they have had to be in past tours. Because of Covid, there are no documentary makers poking cameras into huddles looking for a locker room money shot of a splenetic team captain.
Within the boundaries of his personality Murray can be original and, as Gatland would have it, a different voice
Instead it will be the most ghostly, intimate tour ever undertaken by the team since live television made the brand into the global spectacle it has become.
Gatland is aware of how Murray behaves within the group, his integration, his positivity, his easy manner, his lack of aloofness, his experience, his form, which when it is good puts him among the best scrumhalves in the world.
What Gatland knows is that he has enough drivers among his squad. He has enough tough mentalities. He has decision makers and leaders. He has players who have captained sides at World Cups and have proven themselves as possessing the three or five or ten C’s.
What he sees in Murray is a player who can define what kind of captain he wants to be. He is his own raw material. Within the boundaries of his personality Murray can be original and, as Gatland would have it, a different voice.
Leadership books will tell you command is about wisdom and that wise leaders are the ones with presence and authenticity. It takes that to earn respect and it takes originality and creativity to sustain the respect.
Maybe that’s what Gatland has seen in Murray that nobody else could. It is the originality of being himself and if you can harness that in a squad, you can encourage others to be just as fearless. Fearless enough to be themselves too.
