George the right England captain – he was nearly my Lions choice

Plus, why I selected Dafydd Jenkins as the new Wales captain

I can understand why Steve Borthwick has picked Jamie George to be his new captain. The truth is that I had lined him up to be my captain of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021.
I had taken something of a punt on Jamie on the 2017 tour of New Zealand, when I named him as one of our three hookers despite the fact that he had not yet started a Test match for England. But he ended up as a starting hooker for the three Tests in the drawn series with the All Blacks.
He was outstanding on that tour, not just as a player but as a person and when it came to considering my captain for the next tour, he was right at the top. He had all the attributes you would want in a Lions captain.
The problem was that in the season leading up to the tour, he lost some form. Saracens had been relegated to the Championship, the second tier of English rugby, because of their salary-cap breaches and England’s form in the Six Nations seemed to suffer as a consequence, given the number of Sarries players in their line-up.
England finished in fifth place in the Six Nations that year, with just two wins. Jamie’s form was not good enough to guarantee him a place in the Lions starting XV, and it is almost impossible to pick a captain from a national side that was playing so poorly. Wales won the title and Alun Wyn Jones, a player and leader with a wealth of experience, instead was my captain.
I still took Jamie but he did not make the Test side on the tour. He was not the dominant player he was in 2017. But that in as much reflected England’s form at that stage. I have always found with the Lions that players who come in from successful teams tend to have an extra spring in their step, their shoulders back and their chests puffed out.
When you are going into a Lions year, and Andy Farrell will find this next year, the Six Nations clashes become like a series of trial matches and you end up picking the most players from the team that is successful – sometimes players who excelled the season before.
One of the most significant games I remember was when England played Wales at the end of the 2013 season. I knew it would provide the type of testing ground where I would be able to see which players would stand up and be counted. Wales’ 30-3 victory meant some big-name England players like Chris Robshaw, Chris Ashton and Mike Brown missed out.
We don’t always get selection right, but I think it is hard to argue that Jamie should have made the Test side in South Africa. But that does not take away what a quality person and quality man he is – and a quality rugby player.
There was a time when it seemed like he might have fallen out of love with international rugby and was thinking about calling it a day, which is why I am so pleased to see that he has been honoured with the role of captaining England. It is an appointment that is really well deserved.
I think he will do a really good job and will be good for Steve Borthwick, too. Jamie will galvanise the England squad and bring a really positive outlook, which will be important given how many new faces they have in their squad.
England are going to have to go through the same kind of process that we did after last year’s Six Nations. They don’t have the same pressure of numbers that we do but I can see how they are trying to evolve and bring players through for the next cycle and Jamie’s experience as a 33-year-old who has 85 caps for his country will be critical in that evolution.
Andy Farrell has also gone for experience by appointing Peter O’Mahony, who is 34. That is understandable, too. Ireland have a very stable side and are desperate to bounce back straight away from the disappointment of their World Cup exit.
We have had to take a different direction. Our success over the years has been founded on establishing a core group of young players who develop together. It is in part why I went for Sam Warburton as captain when he was a 22-year-old and I have taken a similar approach in going for Dafydd Jenkins, who will become the youngest Wales captain since Gareth Edwards in 1968.
I see this as a chance to build a side not just for now but for the next eight to 10 years. I have to look at our player depth, assess what we have got and decide how we fast-track players and quickly develop leadership in the group.
When I appointed Sam captain in 2011, I thought he was a player and leader who could captain the team for the next decade, and we saw that.
I look for a number of traits. Is he ready for the role? Is he respected within the group? Has he got the capacity to develop on the job, and develop quickly. In Dafydd Jenkins I see someone who reminds me of a young Alun Wyn Jones.
He is competitive, he works incredibly hard, he’s diligent and a great professional. I went down this route last year at the World Cup with Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake. Both are injured for this championship, and I could have gone with an interim pick of an experienced captain. But instead I thought no, why not continue down this route of building a new core of players. It will take a bit of time, but I think the benefits will be absolutely massive.