Eddie Jones wants all four captains to be picked for Lions tour of New Zealand
Eddie Jones believes the Lions should have a core leadership group of four.
©PA
England boss Eddie Jones believes the selection of captains from the four national teams will benefit British and Irish Lions squad in their gruelling tour of New Zealand in June.
England's Dylan Hartley, Ireland's Rory Best, Wales' Alun Wyn Jones and Greig Laidlaw of Scotland are in contention to lead the Lions squad according to head coach Warren Gatland while Sam Warburton's chances cannot be ruled out either.
Citing the 2013 Lions tour of Australia where Alun Wyn captained for the third and deciding game in the absence of injured Warburton, Jones believes having a strong leadership traits will be one of the key factor in beating the back-to-back World Champions New Zealand on their own backyard.
"I would take those four captains and make that the leadership group," Jones said.
"Then after the warm-up games, whoever was the leading player I would make captain for the first Test," said the Australian, speaking at the Advertising Week Europe business event in London.
"You look at the last Lions tour and Sam Warburton captained the first two and Alun Wyn Jones captained the third, so I think you can separate it.
"It would be different but I would reckon you would get a great result, with those four captains running the team for you and making sure they set the standards on and off the field."
Meanwhile, Gatland insisted that being named as a captain will not guarantee a place in the XV and believes form will be a decisive factor when he names his squad in next month.
"I think the captaincy is a great honour, but whoever the captain is going to be there'll be no guarantee he plays in the Tests," he told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme on Sunday.
"His form has to be good enough. I think whoever that person is has to rise to that, the message to that person is it's a great honour to captain the Lions but your form has to be good enough to be selected for the Tests.
"For the other players in that position I'll be having the same conversation as well. You say 'if your form is good enough and you play better than the captain, then there's every opportunity you can play in the Tests'."
