Brian O’Driscoll would welcome Paul O’Connell as Lions captain should the Munster man be confirmed for the job.
 
Ian McGeechan will announce his captain on Tuesday when the full squad is named and O’Connell has been widely reported to be the coach’s first choice to lead the Lions.
 
O’Driscoll, who captained the 2005 tour to New Zealand and was O’Connell’s main rival for the job, says that he would back the Limerick talisman to captain this year’s tour.
 
“I don’t know what Ian McGeechan is thinking,” the Leinster center told Monday’s Irish Sun.
 
“But he did mention that he always liked his captain to be in the pack and if you’re thinking that way he couldn’t go too far wrong with Paulie. In South Africa they try to bully teams and sometimes you look to set down a marker with your captain.
 
“You can do that by naming your biggest, most physically strong and confrontational player as captain, as happened in 1997 when Martin Johnson was captain.”
 
O’Connell has lead Ireland on three occasions, winning once and losing the others, but it is his captaincy with Munster that stands out as he captained the Irish province to their second Heineken Cup last season and looks set to add the Magners League trophy to his leadership CV this year.