Paul O’Connell primed to step in for Sam Warburton

He may not be the tour captain this time around, but four years on from leading the 2009 Lions in South Africa, and five months on from ruling himself out of consideration for this tour, Paul O'Connell is the obvious candidate to lead the Lions in their opening game against the Barbarians if Sam Warburton was ruled out with a knee injury.

Having returned from a New Year’s Eve back operation to make a stunning return with Munster in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and semi-finals, O’Connell not only forced his way into the 37-man Lions squad but, along with Brian O’Driscoll, re-emerged as a candidate to captain them.

In the event, Warburton was bestowed with that honour, but last season’s Grand Slam winning captain, along with Welsh teammates Gethin Jenkins and Dan Lydiate, all sat out training today.

According to Lions assistant coach Rob Howley "Warby's taken a slight bump to his knee in training." The time-honoured tradition of Lions tours would be that the captain leads them out in the first match, but the management would also be disinclined to take any unnecessary risks, in which case, with Brian O'Driscoll amongst those otherwise engaged in end-of-season finals, O'Connell would be the obvious vice-captain, pending tomorrow morning's team announcement.

Similarly, four years ago, O’Driscoll captained the Lions in their second tour match, a 74-10 rout of the Golden Lions.

In any event, such has been his impact in the two camps to date, O’Connell’s influence on this year’s tour is already assuming a significance way beyond that of a mere soldier in the trenches.