"Wait until you see the team sheet and you'll know why I'm captain," Tadhg Furlong laughed.
Ireland's latest skipper joked that it was simple process of elimination that will see him become the 25th man to captain the country since the turn of professionalism in 1995, when he leads the side out for this Saturday's game against Fiji at the Aviva Stadium.
A look through those that have captained Ireland - whether for a day or a decade - naturally throws together some of the very best who have ever played for the country.
For the most part, too, they've come from similar backgrounds; men from the major rugby schools around the country, a natural byproduct of that system supplying the bulk of Ireland's professional rugby players.
Before Furlong, Mick Galwey and Sean O'Brien were the outliers.
The Wexford native admits he hasn't given much thought to the significance of it, when it was put to him that an Irish captain from a non-traditional rugby background could have a ripple effect on the smaller clubs in the country.
"Maybe it's something you reflect on after the game, but I can understand it, I can understand it," he said.
"For the youth clubs, the junior clubs around Leinster, around Ireland - because New Ross is very much one of them - and they can produce a player to go on and play for Ireland or captain Ireland.
"It's not me being inspirational for them, but I think it's an inspiration for the clubs in general.
"I can understand because I was one of them. I was one of them. Shane Horgan would have come through, Seanie [O'Brien] comes through, I immediately identify with those people because they're from a similar background. John Hayes the same. It's easy to identify.
"We're lucky now that there's so much more of us coming through, especially in the professional game in general in Ireland. So you don't have to look all that far anymore, whereas it was only two or three back in my day. It's more accessible now.
"As it grows and people... it's not like it's just Sean O'Brien and Tullow. It would be a Wexford RFC fella looking up to Brian Deeny, who's playing in Leinster now. It has become far more local than regional where it was before and it's only good for the game, you know?"
And while he hasn't thought much about the significance for the wider rugby community in Ireland, he says he's well aware of the impact it will have in his home club of New Ross RFC.
"I was literally only up there [in the Irish Rugby HPC], had a feed and was watching a bit of video before I came down and the phone started hopping.
"The phone is hopping. I haven't told my parents, haven't told anyone like that yet. I literally came off the pitch today and I didn't know, I didn't want to tell them and for it not to come true then.
"I am sure they will all be very proud. I suppose it's a huge part of me, where I'm from and the people that got me there. I think it's a great reflection on them as well."
With the new role comes new responsibilities, although the tighthead has been getting a taste of that in the squad's leadership group this season.
And while he joked about being a captain by process of elimination, his 61 Test caps and two British and Irish Lions tours would have him high up on the list of candidates for captain in any international side.
"I love the bus on the way in, you know? Everyone's different, but I love to look, the sirens are on, and you can see go past cars and they're beeping, or you go past people outside pubs and their arms go up. It’s class. It’s our people, you identify with them."
He admits he's yet to figure out what type of a captain he will be, but says his approach will be based largely around conversations with the rest of the team's decision-makers, such as the hooker, lineout callers and half-backs.
"Different positions, different personalities, everyone sees the game different.
"That's a good thing in terms of there's no right way to do a lot of things in the world, especially rugby. It's so nuanced in some parts, so having the ability to question and challenge is good.
"It's good for your own head, even, thinking about it because I'm not always right or whoever is not always right. It's a conversation."
His other big responsibility will be dealing with the referee Mathieu Raynal, who will officiate at the Aviva after South Africa's Jaco Peyper was ruled out due to illness.
As luck would have it, Furlong has history with the Frenchman, who penalised Ireland's scrum heavily during their Six Nations meeting with England in March.
An advantage then, for a player at the heart of the scrum to have an open line of dialogue with the referee?
"Yeah perhaps, it could go the other way if he's pinging you off the park. Hookers are nearly the most impartial ones when it comes to the scrum because he’s in the middle, you don’t penalise the hooker for anything other than brake foot.
"I’ve a lot respect for Mattieu, we’d a conversation since [the England game]. I also understand the picture he sees, they won the engagement every time, maybe what happens afterwards, he disagrees about, it is what it is."
He's confident he'll handle the emotion of the occasion correctly, but that's not to say he'll stop himself getting emotional.
Occasionally, on the big days, you just have to embrace it.
"Sometimes it hits you. You think you're not and next thing, in general for a big game and the anthems, and it just catches you.
"On the way to the game, you see a young fella with a flag, and he's waving at us and it's the best thing in the world because he's after seeing the Irish rugby bus. Sometimes a little bit of emotion catches you like that.
"I love the bus on the way in, you know? Everyone's different, but I love to look, the sirens are on, and you can see as you go past cars and they’re beeping, or you go past people outside pubs and their arms go up. It’s class. It’s our people, you identify with them.
"As much as you’d love to be them supping a pint of Guinness, getting ready for a game when you’re going through absolute hell in your body and your head, knowing what’s ahead of you. You identify with that, know what I mean? That gets to me."
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