Unsurprisingly, given the occasion of leading out Ireland for the first time, someone dug out an old photo from Dan Sheehan’s childhood. Ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations game against Wales, a four-year-old Sheehan went viral.
Back in 2003, Jonah Lomu was in town for a marketing gig. There, pictured on the All Black’s shoulders, is a younger version of the Irish hooker, sporting Lomu’s signature hairstyle.
“They needed a kid willing to shave his head and my parents willingly put me forward,” recalls the now Ireland captain. “I remember rocking back into school the next day with the haircut and getting a good giggle out of the lads.
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“[It’s] Kind of weird to look back through eyes of a child and it’s nice to be here now and I’m absolutely loving everything that has to go with the team.”
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“Here” is the aftermath of the Irish captain’s run on Friday afternoon. Another duty to add to the skipper’s list on a match week. Sheehan isn’t short of support in this Ireland camp, a friendly word of how to manage the more hectic schedule.
“It’s a massive honour,” says Sheehan. “When I think of the names that are on that list that went before me, and the last three especially that I have experienced in Caelan [Doris], Pete [O’Mahony], and Johnny [Sexton], obviously there are few in there as well with Tadhg [Beirne], these are sort of role models for me so be put on the same list is a big deal.
“But I’ve made a point to myself to not think about it too much and take it day by day. I’m very comfortable in the group, it hasn’t got to me too much, and I’ve enjoyed the week really. It’s been nice.
“My phone has been blowing up and sorry if I haven’t got back to anyone yet. We’ve had a great week’s prep and everyone is ready for tomorrow.”
What tomorrow will bring is a lot less certain than it once was given Wales’ coaching change and a resulting personnel overhaul. There is a semblance of a form book to study given URC familiarity with Cardiff, where interim Welsh boss Matt Sherratt attends his day job.
“It’s tricky when it’s the week of the Test game to sort of switch it up or try to predict so we focused on what we can control, and that’s us,” says Sheehan. “We obviously talked a bit about how Cardiff play. They play a lovely attacking style of rugby, they have great flow with it.
“It’s hard to tell how much that can change over a week. We just need to focus on what we can control, stick to our basics and hope that the things we have put in place will handle anything.”
