Sam Warburton to Captain British & Irish Lions

Cardiff Blues and Wales back row Sam Warburton has been appointed as captain of the 2013 British & Irish Lions.

He becomes the 28th captain of the British & Irish Lions, and will lead them to Hong Kong and Australia in June on a ten-match, three-Test match Tour.

The 24-year-old Warburton becomes only the fourth Welshman to lead a Lions Tour party.

Warburton has extensive and impressive captaincy credentials, having led Wales Under-20s at the IRB Junior World Championships and Wales at the 2011 Rugby World Cup and Grand Slam honours in 2012. He has won 38 caps for Wales and will be the first Cardiff Blues player to lead The Lions.

Head Coach Warren Gatland said, “I would particularly like to congratulate Sam who becomes one of the youngest ever Lions captains. We have an existing working relationship through the Wales team and Sam is an impressive individual and natural leader and I look forward to working with him in the coming weeks and on the tour.”

Speaking of his appointment, Warburton said, “Being selected as a British & Irish Lions tourist is itself a huge honour and something that I, like all players, have dreamed about. To be asked to lead the tour as captain to Australia is unbelievable and I am very, very honored to be asked ... It is a proud honour for me, Cardiff Blues and Wales, and to follow in the steps of former Welsh Lions’ captains such as John Dawes and Phil Bennett is amazing. As the latest custodian I will endeavor to do the very best job I can ... The tour to Hong Kong and Australia will be a huge challenge against one of the top three teams in the world. However, I am confident that we have the ambition, talent and attitude to mount a serious challenge against the Wallabies on their home soil and return victorious.”

Sam Warburton

Sam Warburton is only the fourth Welsh player to lead The British & Irish Lions on Tour after Arthur Harding in 1908, John Dawes in 1971 and Phil Bennett in 1977. He will is also the fifth youngest of the 28 Lions Tour captains stretching back to Bob Seddon on the pioneering Tour of 1888.

He will be 24 years and 244 days old on the day of the opening Tour match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong (1 June 2013).

The only other captains to have been younger on the date of the first game on their Tours have been: 1950: Karl Mullen (Ireland) 23 years, 165 days; 1904: David Bedell-Sivright (Scotland) 23 years, 193 days; 1955: Robin Thompson (Ireland) 24 years, 48 days; 1924: Ron Cove-Smith (England) 24 years, 229 days.

Sam is regarded as one of the world’s finest flankers and stormed back to his best form with his performances in the 2013 RBS 6 Nations campaign. He was named man-of-the-match against Scotland and followed it up with another destructive display against England as Wales successfully defended their title. Warburton learned his rugby at Whitchurch High School, where he was in the same class as Tottenham Hotspur and Wales star Gareth Bale, and also played at Rhiwbina RFC. He enjoyed a brief spell with Glamorgan Wanderers before switching to Cardiff RFC and the Cardiff Blues Academy.

A No 8 in the Welsh age-grade teams, the versatile back-row forward has won caps at Under-18, 19 and 20s levels. In 2007, he led Wales into the IRB Under-19 World Cup in Belfast, where they lost 25-21 to Australia in the third-place play-off game, and a year later captained Wales at the inaugural IRB Under-20s World Junior Championships on home soil.

He served as understudy to three times Lions tourist Martyn Williams in his early years at the Blues and made his regional debut against Edinburgh in 2009. He then caught the eye of the Welsh selectors with a string of impressive performances and made his Test debut on the summer tour against USA in 2009. He was named in Wales’ 2010 RBS 6 Nations squad but had to wait until the following season to get his first taste of Championship action.

In June 2011 he became Wales’ second youngest captain after Lions legend Gareth Edwards, when he led his country against the Barbarians. He hung on to the captain’s armband for the Rugby World Cup after Matthew Rees was ruled out, and took Wales to the last four. Warburton retained the captaincy on his return home and, after leading Wales to the 2012 Grand Slam, was in charge for the three games against the Wallabies on the summer tour.

As there are so many Pictures of The British and Irish Lions v The Barbarians in Hong Kong we have cut them up into different pages for your viewing pleasure. Other pages include: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7 and Page 8.