Sexton Takes Over Leinster Captaincy For 2018/19 Season

Ahead of the start of the 2018/19 season, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has confirmed that Jonathan Sexton will captain the province for the upcoming campaign, with fellow Ireland international Rhys Ruddock the vice-captain.

Jonathan Sexton, who takes over the Leinster captaincy from the recently-retired Isa Nacewa, has won 76 Ireland caps and has represented the British & Irish Lions on 14 occasions. The 33-year-old Dubliner made his Leinster debut in January 2006 and has added a further 147 caps since then, becoming the province’s record points scorer with 1344 points to date.

In his time with Leinster, the St. Mary’s College clubman has won four Heineken Champions Cup trophies, a Challenge Cup trophy and three Celtic League/PRO14 crowns.

Rhys Ruddock (27) is also a St. Mary’s representative and has won 19 Ireland caps. He made his Leinster debut in December 2009 and has won 142 caps in total for the province, scoring seven tries. He has won a Challenge Cup, three PRO12/14 titles and added a Heineken Champions Cup medal last season.

Commenting on the respective captain and vice-captain roles for Sexton and Ruddock, Leo Cullen said: “Johnny is a player and person who is always striving to improve and get better and he has driven incredibly high standards during his time at Leinster, where he has become one of the most decorated players in the game.

“He has already carried out the role of captain of the team on a number of occasions and we are very fortunate to be able to announce Johnny as club captain for the 2018/19 season as he is a player that greatly deserves this honour.

“He is hugely excited by the challenge of leading his team-mates over the course of the season as we look to maximise the team’s potential.

“Likewise Rhys, we have seen him grow into an outstanding leader at Leinster and, indeed, he has captained Ireland on tour to Japan and again last season against Fiji and I think that this appointment today is further evidence of that growth.

“You couldn’t get two players that better represent the values and behaviours that we want to be judged on than Johnny and Rhys and I look forward to working even closer with them over the coming months.”

Leinster play French club Montauban this Friday away from home in the first of their Bank of Ireland pre-season friendlies. They will then face Newcastle Falcons at Energia Park in Donnybrook on Friday week (August 17) at 7pm. Click here for Leinster v Newcastle tickets.