Munster coach Rob Penney has named Peter O'Mahony as their squad captain for the coming season, taking over from the retired Doug Howlett.

The 23-year-old flanker has enjoyed a meteoric rise at both provincial and international level and captained Ireland on their tour to America and Canada at the end of last season.

O’Mahony previously captained Munster during the 2011/12 season in Paul O’Connell’s absence and also led Munster A to the inaugural British and Irish Cup Final in 2010. He has previously captained Ireland under-20 and under-18 level.

“It is the biggest honour of my career so far and it is very special to me,” admitted O’Mahony. “When I was asked by Rob initially I was just shocked, my first instinct was to jump at it but I had time to go away and think about it and then I wanted to talk to people to get their thoughts.”

“Fellas like Paulie are very important guys in this squad and hopefully he and the other guys will be behind me for the year and I’m really looking forward to it.

“I’m not going to try and fill Paulie’s boots, Axel’s boots or Dougie’s, I’m going to try and be my own captain, look after the lads and figure out the way I’m going to do things.

“Captaining Ireland and your country is huge, and obviously that experience will stand to me but I’m just delighted with this opportunity now.”

Penney added: “Peter is a naturally gifted leader and is still very young but has a lot of the attributes that are special and intrinsic to Munster. He will grow in to being a special leader of this group of men.

“I have spoken to players including Paul O’Connell who was extremely supportive of Pete’s appointment. We went through a process last year to appoint Dougie via the players and this year Peter’s name was to the forefront of that list so taking all that information on board it was a no brainer that Pete would be appointed.”