JAMES RYAN ADMITS sitting through those 80 minutes on Saturday was one of the toughest games he has had to watch, with the second row, usually a totemic figure for Ireland, completely powerless to prevent the team’s disintegration.
Having flown home to Dublin after the warm-weather training camp in Portugal, Ireland’s record defeat to England was a painful experience for Ryan as he watched on, like many others, in shock.
Perhaps the most disconcerting areas, and certainly the most damaging shortcomings of the performance at Twickenham, were Ireland’s defence and lineout, both of which Ryan is directly involved in.
The alarming malfunction of the lineout, in particular, provided enough ball for England to cause untold damage, while 37 missed tackles is a statistic that speaks for itself.
Upon rejoining the squad at Carton House on Sunday evening, Ryan said the players involved in the eight-try hammering were ‘quite low’ and perhaps, in this time of need, the 23-year-old recognises the importance of the big leaders standing up.
Set for his first appearance of pre-season against Wales in Cardiff this Saturday [KO 2.30pm], Ryan hopes to help Ireland be technically and mentally ready for the challenge ahead.
“I wasn’t there, but after the game, I think lads were obviously quite low,” he said at Carton House this afternoon. “A bit shocked as well, I think.
“We’ve done a lot of work looking at it today and yesterday and there are a lot of lessons there.
“I think the lineout and defence are among the two biggest areas we need to improve on from the weekend. Defensively, as Joe probably pointed out, we missed 37 tackles. We missed a lot in the first half. That’s an easy fix if we’ve got the right mindset.
“Then obviously with the lineout, it has been a strength for us in the past. But it definitely wasn’t on the weekend. From a forward perspective, a big focus this week has been on getting that right. It’s never down to one person.
“Sometimes what looks like an overthrow, when you look much closer, it’s because the lift isn’t right or the movement isn’t what it needs to be or has been that week. It’s our process right across the board in that regard. As I said, it has been a big focus this week on sharpening that up.”
Although Ryan stresses that these are areas of Ireland’s game that can quickly be fixed, and they will certainly need to be heading to the Millennium Stadium, there is also an admission that in Ireland’s three heavy defeats this year, the same issues have been at the root of the problem.
Just as it was with England in Dublin, or Wales in Cardiff, Ireland now need to sharpen their defence and loosen their attack heading into what feels like a must-win warm-up outing.
“The pattern is when you’re looking at the three defeats, is that there’s a pretty consistent pattern in what went wrong,” Ryan continues.
“In all three defeats, we conceded too many points, so defensively we need to be sharper. Too many missed tackles. We need to work quicker, smarter.
“The lineout as well. We look at England in the Six Nations game, they were that bit quicker than us, they were getting set quicker, we were a jump behind at the weekend. I think it’s pretty similar.
“Technically there’s definitely consistencies there but no, I don’t think there’s an overriding sense of panic from us. You don’t become a bad team overnight. Yeah, we’ve had a few losses now but we’ve had plenty of good days.
The big thing for us now is really learning from that, genuinely learning from what went wrong. Putting the right foot forward because it’s a great opportunity this week to hopefully get us on the right foot again. There’s no better place to do it than in the Millennium Stadium so we’re already excited.”
Ryan is set to win his 18th cap on Saturday and there is no better time for him to come back into the Ireland pack and provide the leadership, energy, work-rate and dynamism he has become renowned for.
Back in March, Ryan called Ireland’s lineout for the first time as he packed down beside Tadhg Beirne in the second row and Joe Schmidt will be hoping the return of his pre-eminent lock will help get the set-piece functioning again.
“I don’t think the squad is broken, certainly not today,” Ryan adds.
“As I said, it was very tough. I wasn’t playing, but it was one of the toughest games I had to watch. The lads came in Sunday and they were certainly quite low.
Today and yesterday has been about learning from what went wrong and as I mentioned, we’re obviously a bit low from that. It’s important that we channel that emotion in the right direction.
“It’s great for the guys that are picked and have the opportunity to play this week, that there’s an opportunity to do that.
“Wales certainly will be very motivated. It’s Warren Gatland’s last home game. They’re a very passionate country.
“We’ve got to make sure that we bring our own emotion this week and hopefully bring a bit of the hurt from the weekend. Channel that in the right way.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
3 years ago when James Ryan was playing in the u20′s world cup I stated he’d be our starting lock for this world cup and our captain for the next. Might of got the captain bit wrong, he could be very well the captain for this world cup.
@Darren Byrne: definitely wont be captain
@Darren Byrne: should be captain. Best & POM shouldn’t be starting and Sexton can lose the head. Warburton captained wales at a WC at 22
@Darren Byrne: James Ryan doesn’t even call lineouts, even Roux was calling lineouts ahead of him during the Six Nations. He does nothing in a leadership capacity for the group.
@Rochelle: apart from lead by example to the much older and experienced players
@Rochelle: Calling line outs takes a while. It’s an art. Regardless, he leads by example and his numbers show that. You want a captain that can inspire lads around you and be calm under chaos.
@Eoin Murphy: A good player does their own job, a leader instructs and makes decisions for the team. Maybe James Ryan should “lead by example” and take on the responsibility of lineout calling since it’s clearly such a problem at the moment?
@Rochelle: First thing is you want a captain to be a player that is a guaranteed starter. Ryan is. If Best plays, I’m happy with him being captain, and personally I really feel Ruddock is an underated player and captain. And while I don’t think Ryan will captain the team, he has captained the u20s before…he doesn’t also need to call lineouts to get the nod!
@Rochelle: Ryan’s 100% a leader because he leads from the front. At his age to do that and never have a bad game is extraordinary. James Ryan makes ‘decisions’ that continuously puts players around him in better positions, in almost every game…for the full 80 minutes. You obviously don’t know what it takes to be a leader if you can’t acknowledge that.
The problem with the lineout is also down to how opponents perceive it as a strength or a weakness and it can become a self fulfilling prophecy! If it’s perceived as an indomitable strength with a strong maul used of it then teams may prefer to a) Keep the ball on the pitch and b) not contest the lineout in order to focus on the defence off the lineout. The problem for Ireland now is that teams can see that we fall apart when lineout is disrupted and that our once strong lineout can be ‘got at’ – that means teams will Target it more which by default means it will come under increasing pressure. That could ultimately work to our advantage if we can start to dominate our own ball again and start challenging opposition lineouts more
@BMJF: your are correct. simply we didn’t put England under pressure on their ball and gave them a free throw and catch every time. They done the opposite.
An awful lot of fantasy stuff going on regarding the captaincy. Best won’t lose his role unless he gets injured. If that were to happen then the captaincy won’t go outside the current leadership group of o mahony, sexton or stander with O mahony probably the next in line. Any other move by schmidt would be relative suicide in maintaining what’s already apparently a very fragile squad harmony.
@Jim Demps:
Sexton:: Jim IMO :::to Joe he is the Captain (and POM is playing badly where Sexton has not played)
@Jim Demps: Sexton’s last game of rugby he captained his side to winning the pro 14 final against Glasgow in Glasgow. The side he led beat what will be the majority of the Scotland side we face in our first game.
If best is stood down than sexton should step up. POM is fighting for form and is under pressure for that 6 shirt from Bierne, stander and Ruddock
@Chris Mc: you do realise that o mahony did the same v effectively half the Scottish team as well v Edinburgh. Sexton hasn’t shown any decent form either this year.
@Jim Demps: Edinburgh is a fair auld drop off from Glasgow. And unless it was on your Xbox I don’t seem to recall Pom captaining any team to win the pro 14
A lot more then POM did ::and you know it !! Love the way you say these sweeping statements “any decent form either this year.” He was on for 20 min V Scotland before he went off and he set up 2 tries :: And boy do we need him more than any other player to play well::: And it is not great to knock him when he is the most important player we have :: and Joe knows that (with joey out )
@Jim Demps: stander is hardly going to be captain, he’s lucky if he’ll get his place in the starting 15
Give Taghag Beirne a start aswell.
@Top Class:
OK but only in the back row