Caelan Doris could be the dark horse to become Ireland’s next captain despite being snubbed by Leinster.
Robin McBride insisted he was happy with the way Andrew Porter ran the scrum, but admitted he needed to look at things from a match official’s perspective.
Johnny Sexton managed Leinster and Ireland before retiring after the World Cup.
Garry Ringrose and James Ryan were named provincial co-captains in November, but Andy Farrell is still undecided on who will lead Ireland to the Six Nations.
And Leinster scrum coach McBride believes Mayoman Doris, who was named Ilpa Player of the Year in 2023 and is on a central contract, could take home the honour.
“Not at all,” McBride said. “He was part of a leadership team of game leaders going into the game, and he was following in the footsteps of Tadhg Furlong, who understood the game inside and out.
“The next week, when Caelan took over the mantle with clarity of speech and understanding on both sides of the ball.
“There’s a good chance he’ll be the next captain.
“There are many candidates, and it would be very foolish not to include his name among them.”
The Leinster co-captain had some teething problems with the referee insisting on speaking to only one player.
But McBride added, “As long as the referee knows who to consult, who to talk to, who to message on game day, and who’s in charge of tossing the coin, that’s it.”
“Nothing else has changed, it’s really simple.
“Garry and James work together really well and it helps that they can bounce things off each other. There’s no problem with that.”
However, manager Leo Cullen will want to ensure Porter does not continue to make poor decisions at set-pieces, as he has done recently, including in the win over Munster on St Stephen’s Day with referee Andrew Brace officiated. I’m passionate about doing that.
McBride said: “We have regular conversations. After the game, Leo spoke to Andrew Brace.
“There are two sides to every story. We’re really happy with the way Andrew runs the scrum. Maybe we just need to look at things from a referee’s perspective.
“I think Andrew has made great strides. He has had some fouls on some calls, but he is a top-end scrummagor.
“When you’re up against a strong scrummagor like Andrew, the straight-laced guy is going to try to find a way out, to put it nicely.
“It’s hard. Sometimes decisions go against you and you have to accept that.
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“The hard part is that if you don’t make consistent decisions, you don’t know what’s going to happen next.
“That’s not to say it’s an easy job. We do our best to give the referee as clear a picture as possible.”