Paul O'Connell walked into the press conference and accepted congratulations verbally and through handshakes as he made his way to the dais that had been vacated by the Ireland team management, writes John O'Sullivan.

He surveyed the assembled media with the same assertive manner with which he deals with any challenge on the pitch. For the next 16 minutes he suggested that coach Eddie O'Sullivan's decision to name him as Ireland's captain for Saturday's Six Nations Championship match against France at Stade de France was a prescient move.

It certainly wasn't predictable. O'Driscoll may have been a doubtful starter, but when discussions alighted on the captaincy issue, O'Connell certainly wasn't touted, despite being named one of five vice-captains by the coach last week. The player himself wouldn't have championed his cause.

But O'Sullivan knew who he wanted for the role. As O'Connell explained, there was nothing coquettish to the Munster second row's response. "Eddie just came up to me after training on Monday and said that he wanted to have a chat with me. I wasn't sure if I had done something right or was in trouble.

"He gave me a time to be up in his room. I went up and he (Eddie) put it to me straight. He said Drico (Brian O'Driscoll) might be in trouble and how would I feel about captaining the side. I said I'd love to do it, that I'd need a bit of help from the senior guys, but I'd love to do it."

There is a disarming candour to O'Connell's responses, perhaps reflecting a player who will win just his 16th cap on Saturday. "It's brilliant, a fabulous honour. It came as a bit of a surprise to me. At the same time it's every person's dream to captain the side no matter what stage it comes at in your career. I can't wait to be the first man out of the tunnel on Saturday."

Captaincy doesn't feature that prominently on his curriculum vitae, limited to a few occasions for his club, Young Munster, and the "college freshers" team. But he has played under several stirring leaders, from Ger Earls at club level right up through his representative career.

Keith Wood, Mick Galwey, Brian O'Driscoll, Jim Williams, Anthony Foley and maybe even his former Ireland under-21 captain, Shane Moore, may all have contributed to O'Connell's style of leadership. It's typical of the new Irish captain that he looks to focus less on rhetoric than to inspire by deed.

"There are so many experienced heads there at this stage: Maggsie (Kevin Maggs), Axel (Anthony Foley), Rog (Ronan O'Gara), Reggie (Corrigan) and (John) Hayes. I might be leading them, but it's going to be up to a lot of us.

"Woodie (Keith Wood), when he did it, took a lot of responsibility on himself for everything. I'm going to be looking to the lads to take responsibility. It's going to become very much a team thing. Woodie was a great man for the speeches and the great words, and maybe that'll come with time, but at the moment I'm just going to try and lead on the field and get the lads to come along with me."

An obvious pitfall for any fledgling captain is the distraction it may bring to his own game. O'Connell is undaunted: "No, I think it should be good for my own game. I think you need an edge all the time. That's where I come from, never feeling secure in your place and always wanting to prove something. Now I have something to prove as captain. There has always been someone behind me or I've been chasing someone; this is the next step to give me another edge and it's what I need."

He will consult with O'Driscoll, a player who coped admirably with the responsibility. "He was put in the same position as me, didn't have much experience and maybe wasn't expecting it. I can learn a lot from him in the way that he handled it. He was brilliant, the most successful captain in a long time."

Paris is not the ideal starting point for any player let alone captain, but in judging the manner in which O'Connell has reacted to challenges on and off the pitch and watching his calm assurance yesterday, there is no doubt he'll fulfil his part of the agreement.

It will be up to those around him to keep up. A case of "do as I do", more than "do as I say".