The talismanic centre shouldered much of the burden as Ireland slumped alarmingly in the World Cup and RBS 6 Nations championship, the men in green ending the season eighth in the IRB world rankings.

That leaves the Irish needing a productive November series against Canada, New Zealand and Argentina - because the IRB are using the rankings to seed teams for the 2011 Rugby World Cup draw, and December 1 is the cut-off point.

Were Kidney to relieve O'Driscoll of the Irish captaincy, the hope would be that the 29-year-old would thrive without the responsibility and rediscover his best form.

Munster duo Paul O'Connell and Ronan O'Gara would be prime candidates to take on the armband.

"Brian and I have been talking and taking a look at things. Come November we'll take a good look at it and we'll see how things are going," said Kidney, who has an extended Ireland squad together this week in Cork.

"At the moment, I think it's important that he just gets a chance to concentrate on his own game - because he's been shouldering things for the last five years.

"We'll see how things go. He's done a very good job (as captain) - you don't win three Triple Crowns and just throw that away too easily!

"At the same time, you want to give him a small bit of space.

"Without naming a captain ... it wouldn't be usual anyway to name a captain at the start of a (coaching) set-up. We'll just see how things go and give him a chance to enjoy his own rugby."

Explaining his aims for his first season in charge, Kidney added: "November is probably more important than it ever has been this year, in that there's IRB world ranking points - wherever we stand on December 1 is going to have an effect on the draw for the next World Cup.

"So it has a three-year effect how we go in the next three matches, and that will focus minds.

"In the 6 Nations, first up it's France at home. I suppose the last time Ireland played France at home, it was just a hop of the ball between having a disappointing day and a great win that could have led to all sorts of things. It would be nice to turn that one around.”