THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT Donnacha Ryan that makes him ideal for dealing with adversity.
This is a man who spent more than 11 months out of the game with what had initially seemed like a minor foot injury. Ryan recalls being asked, ‘How are you enjoying retirement?’ by more than one person during his lengthy spell on the sidelines.
He never wrote himself off and returned in March 2015 hungrier than ever.
Back in 2013 as the Declan Kidney era was winding down, Ireland had a miserable Six Nations campaign, winning just once. Paul O’Connell was missing but Ryan stepped up and ferociously fought a losing battle, perhaps Ireland’s best player in the tournament.
Even Ryan’s approach to dismantling opposition mauls is a microcosm of his steely determination and unwillingness to roll over.
How Ireland could have used him on the pitch at Murrayfield last weekend as Scotland bossed the physical exchanges and out-worked Joe Schmidt’s team in the opening half. How valuable his lineout and maul skills would have been on a bad day in those areas.
Instead, Ryan was in his suit in the stand, freshly showered after acting as 24th man in the warm up. With no injuries to Devin Toner, Iain Henderson and Ultan Dillane – all selected ahead of him – Ryan was surplus to requirements.
When Ryan’s name was absent from the Ireland match day 23 last week, Schmidt pointed to a medial ligament injury the previous week as one of the reasons for the lock’s omission, but his presence as 24th man in Murrayfield showed he was fit to play.
“It was just the way it is,” says Ryan. “Joe probably felt that with the way it was going, he probably felt I could offer the best cover as 24th man. That’s what I was asked to do.”
Did he feel fit enough to start?
“I suppose we’ll never know now. It doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, from my point of view this week, just get on with it. I’m in great shape, so luckily I got the nod this week. Hopefully, I can put in a good performance.”
It’s typical Ryan. He’s not going to even hint at bitching about being left out, but you sense that he will carry a bit of a chip onto his shoulder at Stadio Olimpico tomorrow against Italy, now that he has been restored to Ireland’s starting team.
But the 33-year-old points out that he has been in this position before, and says he didn’t get too worked up about being left out against Scotland.
“I’m more of a realist now. When you’ve been dropped so many times at this stage you’re not really… I am disappointed but you’re not as sour or, you know, you can be miserable about it, miserable around your family or you can be, ‘What’s the next positive thing I can do?’
“No one wants to hang around with someone who’s feeling sorry for themselves. My point of view is to keep a positive outlook, keep training and keep getting better.
“I know from the other end, you’ve got to be ready to get in there. At the end of the day, if you’re relying on emotions week-to-week, you wouldn’t be in a healthy state of mind.
“You realise – never get too high, never get too low. When you are brought in, you can’t be going around bull-headed on the pitch. You still have a professional level of processes that you have to do when you hit the pitch, not let the emotional side of things override that.”
Ryan points out that he did his best to have a positive influence for Ireland last weekend too, even if he wasn’t on the pitch. He was working with forwards coach Simon Easterby to ensure lineout caller Devin Toner was being fed accurate information.
“Looking on from the sideline, you’re obviously itching to get out there playing but to be honest, I’m up there trying to give as much analysis and information to Simon at half time to help Dev.
“That’s the way we operate as a team. Even if one guy isn’t in there, there is no point feeling sorry for yourself. You’re asking yourself, ‘How can I positively contribute to making life easier for the lads?” Because at the end of the day, we want us to win.”
With Ryan back in the team, many will be confident of Ireland securing that win in Rome in a convincing fashion.
Whatever he says himself, the Tipp man is a leader in this squad.
“I would probably be more action-based. I’d help as many of the young lads as much as possible. I get a good buzz out of it even if I’m not involved. The thing that picks me up is trying to help lads along with anything I might see.
“I focus on what I can control, I wouldn’t be going in shooting my mouth off. There are fantastic leaders there. I would prefer it to be more action-based leadership than anything else. If anything practical needs to be said, I will say it.”
Head down and on with the job.
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Ive great respect for this man. He is tough as they come but not a dirty player. He never take a backward step and he is a consistently good player.
I wish he played for Leinster!
Always plays with huge intensity and aggression. Himself and POM were missed last week.
He’s a class act and yes me too I’d love him at leinster.. if only he’d been from a few miles north of Nenagh he could have been a leinster player!
Definition of a team player. I thought himself and Toner had a good partnership over the November series and was surprised, like many other people, that he wasn’t starting against Scotland. But as he says himself that’s in the past, time to move on for that game now.
The man has a serious point to prove tomorrow and I have no doubt he’ll do it. Wish him all the best, great player and seems a top bloke
It seems Joe has an injury excuse ready for any player he drops now Henderson has a hamstring issue.. Ryan was dropped last wk end of story. Him and pom would have been the difference last week they never show up to a game without that mad passion
Agreed. It seems Joe is willing to spout whatever bullsh*t he wants to entertain the media and not he questioned. A medial ligament injury wouldn’t rule you out for one week and back in the next. Just be honest and say the man wasn’t selected. I’m sure these players have been dropped before and are tough enough to deal with the fall out in the media Off topic but one wonders what is actually wrong with sexton coming from these lies…..
Take the tinfoil hats off lads niggles happen all the time.Why risk a player we have squad depth for once.
@Liam I reckon half of sextons problem is his mentality, he’s had so many injuries and knocks on the head it has to be in the back of his mind. It might not be such a bad thing as Jackson is getting some much needed game time at the moment and he’ll continue to improve. Hopefully the few weeks off for sexton will have him rearing to go for the next 3 games.
@fionn I agree with what you’re saying 100% As for you @james did you not read the article properly?? Murray asks did he feel fit enough to start? “I suppose we’ll never know now” “I’m in great shape now so luckily I got the nod this week” To me that says I wasn’t injured
Joe is a very good tactician/coach no doubting that but as a selector he is bland and just uninspiring,
When gatland blooded BOD Darcy Horgan ogara and stringer it turned out to be a golden age of players,
If joe was selecting around that time only one of the above would make it into the staring XV as the experience wouldn’t be right in the backline, ogara prob wouldn’t of made the squad as paddy Wallace was more “versatile” so would of been bench pick for humphryes,
Maggs was a solid 12 so BOD and Darcy would have to fight it out for 13 and girven Dempsey would still be getting caps to this day as he was fullback and ya can’t drop them!
Obviously all of that was hyperbole but easy to imagine as it’s true to joes logic
Nothing like a 42 rant to wash down the coco pops !!
That was nearly 20 years ago , players are a good 3/4 stone heavier now and stronger than ever. Byrne, sweetnam , carberry etc are on the light side even ringrose is smaller than most. Imagine bringing in 4 or 5 uncapped players against any of the tier1 teams. They’d be absolutely annihilated. They need time to bulk up these days. Look at John Ryan , he’s 28 and only beginning to make strides in his international career. The 6 nations isn’t the best place to try blood so many youngsters. I agree that it’s a bit uninspiring but he is building for the future , it just takes a bit more time with us as we’ve one of the smallest pools to pick from. Before anyone says sure what about the all blacks , rugby is like a religion over there and doesn’t have gaa and soccer to compete with.
A very good argument man, but it does have small holes , stu stu mckloskey and ohalloran are plenty sizeable and have shown consistent form and talent for a few seasons,
But the basis of what your saying makes huge sense as in it’s a different era so changes willy nilly will be punished , but a bit of trust isn’t a big ask,
Eddie jones has Haskell and tom wood to pick from and his back row has injuries so logically he should steady the ship with experienced heads but yet he’s picked 3 inexperienced exciting back rows with about 10 caps between them against wales !?!?
My first comment was just an over exaggerated rant but it does carry some weight and can be considered to have some merit
Back to the cereal Bobby as that’s all snap, crackle and pop. Gatland inherited an Irish team that was barely professional and half a shambles. O Gara and BOD etc stood out a mile and he literally had nothing to lose by blooding them. We were already at the bottom of the heap.
Schmidt is in an entirely different era of professionalism where we have built and progressed in club and country now for the past 15 years. Furthermore Schmidt keeps on capping new players and giving them their chances!
We have Henshaw and Ringrose as centres, we have JVDF and Dillane fighting for their places. These are all guys in their early 20s.
Furthermore he brought Joey Carbery to Chicago to play the All Blacks.
A young lad with a handful of Leinster caps and barely even has the physique yet for Test rugby.
Schmidt trusts in youth or good form when he sees real talent there he’s just not rash about it
The two players you’ve mentioned, are still young and I’ve no doubt that O’Halloran will see lots of game time in the next few years. Trimble and Kearney won’t be around much longer. This time last year everyone was shouting for ringrose to be in the team and sure enough after working within the Irish set up he was in it by November. You’ve henshaw Payne(when fit) and now ringrose ahead of mccloskey so I don’t see where he could fit in and with earls capable of filling in if needed. One of those inexperienced English players is Itoje, stander and vdf could both be considered as inexperienced as them. Saying all that I would like to see Joe be a little less conservative in his choice of squads.
It’s an absolute farce that he wasn’t playing last week. He has been brilliant this season for Ireland and Munster.
Another selection Schmidt got wrong. It is becoming a norm now. Munster have the best pack in Europe this season and he only picked one last week. Madness
I can guarantee if he was a Leinster player there is no way he would be dropped.
@Fiachra Ahern Esq: A positive article about a great player and some muppet uses it to have a go at Leinster. Well done Fiachra.
Fact! But be careful because I was abused royally.
Ryan was an obvious change that needed to be made and should probably have played last week. My worry is that there were other obvious changes needed that weren’t made. These probably won’t get exposed by Italy and cracks will papered over again. Opportunity lost I think
Exactly what’s needed in the second row. Hope he can last until England.
Leads by example.
Donnacha Ryan is a really physical and aggressive second row. He’s definitely been one of the best locks in Europe over the last few months. He brings a lot of experience and leadership in the maul and line out which Ireland really lacked last week. Hope he plays a stormer against in Rome and reminds Joe Schimdt that he’s the best second row in Ireland at the moment . I’d like to see him be in the Lions tour squad despite the competition.
Henderson is a great ball carrier but his partnership with Toner doesn’t work and he’s not as physical or mobile
Ryan is a savage and deserves his place. Schmidt has blooded plenty of young players. Putting a Ohalloran into a back line with Jackson, ringrose and Henshaw would be madness, though I agree that he probably deserves to be there on form. Unfortunately for him form is not the only thing to be taken into consideration. There has to be an blend of youth and experience for international rugby and we are already testing the limits of that in our backline!
Ireland really misses that aggression and overall doggedness when there’s no POM or Ryan in the second row. It becomes in their absence a far too professional partnership that plays off percentages rather than fighting for every ball and generally annoying and niggling every phase the opposition are constructing.