Kieran Read names his 2025 British and Irish Lions captain

Retired All Blacks skipper Kieran Read has named his captain for the upcoming 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. The 39-year-old led New Zealand to their Test series draw versus Sam Warburton’s class of 2017.

Now, ahead of a trip where Andy Farrell has succeeded Warren Gatland as the Lions boss, Read believes another back-rower is primed to captain the tourists – Ireland’s Caelan Doris.

The Irish No8 was appointed to lead his national team as skipper last month, taking over on a full-time basis from Peter O’Mahony having had a couple of auditions in the role.

Having watched Ireland closely over the Autumn Nations Series, Read reckons Farrell will now make Doris the Lions captain for their three-Test tour versus Joe Schmidt’s Australia.

Speaking to Irish media at the launch of The Toughest Traits, a new series from AIB in which the Kiwi learns what it takes to be an elite level GAA player, Read said: "I rate Caelan Doris very highly. I have watched him a bit this year and he is a very good player.

“A player who definitely has got captaincy material over him because you know what you are going to get. Most importantly, he is an 80-minute player who just does not take a step backwards and every kind of impact in the one-on-ones and the impact that he has on the game is generally a positive one."

A winner of 127 Test caps with the All Blacks, Read suggested that it took until the November win over Ireland in Dublin for New Zealand fans to see genuine progress in Scott Robertson’s first year at the helm.

"I was worried because we just didn't see any progress for a lot of the year this year, especially during The Rugby Championship,” he explained. "The same kind of mistakes and things have been happening all year for us, so the Ireland game this November was huge for us.

"I know Ireland didn't play as well as they played all year, so that helped. But just getting that victory built a lot of confidence. We played our best game against France and lost but a couple of little errors and things didn't help us that game day.

“We have got individuals who have been playing really well this year but it was all about getting them to get that time and that synergy together which we didn't quite have all year.

"We have got high performers and with Scott having the more knowledge of our game, it's going to bode well for next year."