Irish duo vie for Lions captaincy

O'Driscoll and O'Connell played key roles in Ireland's Grand Slam victory

Former British and Irish Lions skipper Gavin Hastings thinks the captaincy for the South Africa tour is between Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell.

Head coach Ian McGeechan will name his Lions squad next month ahead of the 10-week trip to South Africa.

And Hastings has tipped O'Driscoll to pip his Irish team-mate after leading Ireland to the Grand Slam on Saturday.

"Undoubtedly it's going to be between Brian and Paul, but Brian has to be the favourite," the Scot told BBC Sport.

"Paul O'Connell is a wonderful leader of the team as well, but Brian has just lifted Ireland's first Grand Slam in 61 years.

"In this day and age of rugby there are normally four or five leaders on the field and that will continue with the Lions.

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"I just think Brian O'Driscoll has played so well this year it would almost be a fitting tribute to the way he has played were he to be named Lions skipper."

Hastings led the Lions on their 1993 tour of New Zealand, narrowly losing the three-Test series 2-1.

McGeechan was a coach on that tour, and Hastings believes the Wasps coach will select more England players in his squad than many predicted before their encouraging end to the Six Nations as they won their last two matches to finish second.

"There's no doubt the majority of players will come from Wales and Ireland, but England's strong finish to the Six Nations, pushing them up to second, means they will feature a lot of players," the former Scotland full-back told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"All credit to them for coming good. You sensed the influence of (coach) Martin Johnson was slowly beginning to come through."

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