IT WASN’T MEANT TO END LIKE THIS
SO this is it. The final match after 13 years. The last time wearing the red jersey he fantasised about pulling on since he was a kid.
It was supposed to be blue and gold and hurling. After all, he grew up in Nenagh, the town that produced two of Tipp’s finest in Mick Burns and Michael Cleary (seven All-Irelands between them) and the reason he took up rugby in the first place was to add muscle for the county minors.
But rugby awakened something visceral, a defining physical intensity that allowed him to plough into lads legally and share in a willingness to welcome pain for the common goal.
And he discovered he was good at it. Of course, the size helped — natural strength and height providing obvious advantages, combined with hand-eye coordination honed on the hurling field.
So there was a switch of secondary schools, to St Munchin’s in the rugby hothouse of Limerick, the institution that produced Colm Tucker, Keith Wood and Anthony Foley; Munster and Ireland icons who followed the path he now had his heart set on.
Next stop was Sunday’s Well and former Ireland coach Murray Kidd. He’d heard all the stories of Kidd’s disastrous stint in charge of the national team in the mid1990s but the Kiwi knew his stuff and spotted something, keeping the ‘big bag of bones’ youngster back for numerous one-on-one sessions under the weak lighting on The Well’s Musgrave Park back pitch.
As well as adding a technical edge, it fostered a belief that stood to him as he joined Shannon and got invited into the Munster set-up. This was where he wanted to be but then the waiting game began...
Alan Gaffney and Declan Kidney gave him words of encouragement but the pecking order was clear — Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan were immovable as first-choice second rows and Mick O’Driscoll was cover.
He kept plugging away but found himself filling in at blindside to get game time, acquiring the dreaded ‘versatility’ tag.
Still, even a fill-in role with Munster put him in the mix for Ireland and Deccie gave him his debut off the bench against Argentina in 2008. A huge buzz, but it was the same old story — O’Connell, O’Callaghan and O’Driscoll in his way and his first Ireland start didn’t come until the 2011 World Cup warm-up games.
He made the World Cup squad in New Zealand but only started against Russia — on the flank.
Now 28, it was time to reassess. There were clubs sniffing around, a couple in England put out feelers and Leinster were interested also but Munster was his home, the only team he wanted to play for, so he stayed put.
And the situation did improve, he started getting picked ahead of O’Callaghan (O’Connell, when available, was untouchable) and there were regular starts for Ireland in 2012 and 2013.
Then Joe Schmidt, a serial trophy-winner with Leinster, took over and turned his provincial mainstay Devin Toner into a quality international second row. Serious injury began to complicate matters but he forced his way back in for the 2015 World Cup behind O’Connell and Toner.
When Ireland’s captain got injured, he thought he would get in for the quarter-final against Argentina — the Pumas needed to be faced down by hard, experienced forwards — but they went with Jordi Murphy at No6 and the young Ulsterman Iain Henderson at second row.
That defeat prompted a rethink by Ireland and, with Paulie gone, there were starts in the 2016 Six Nations only for the South African Quinn Roux to be preferred on the tour of his native country.
THEN finally, at 32, the big break — he was named to start against the All Blacks in Chicago.
First choice against the greatest team, it turned out to be the best day of his rugby life and as Ireland secured the most famous win in their history, he knew he’d done his bit, playing as well as he ever had in green or red.
Injury muddied the pitch for the opening Six Nations loss away to Scotland, but he played well in the rest of the matches and, when Toner was ‘rotated’ for the final thumping win over England, the consensus was that he had finally established himself as Ireland’s first-choice second row.
But people didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes.
His central contract was up at the end of the season and there was not another one to take him through to Japan 2019.
It was a body blow because staying on with Munster would mean the province footing the bill and a big drop in income at a time when he needed to be maximising earnings for life after rugby.
It meant Racing Metro’s bigmoney offer was a no-brainer. Ronan O’Gara was coaching there and, down in Pau, another old mate, James Coughlan, had shown the way for Munster forwards switching to the Top14.
But the question kept nagging away. Why did he have to leave Munster and Ireland when he was playing the best rugby of his career? Okay, he was 33, but the body felt great — earlier injuryenforced breaks providing a freshness that would not otherwise be there.
Plus, second row is the position most suited to careers extending into the late 30s — Paulie, Brad Thorn, Nathan Hines and Jamie Cudmore — and O’Callaghan was flying it over in Worcester.
He knew there were two more years in him, at least, but now that point will have to be made away from the teams he loved.
The sneaking hope his form would lead to Lions selection didn’t materialise and no contract meant missing out on Ireland’s summer tour, which reduced the chances of an injury call-up if the Lions needed another second row.
A season that had promised so much had turned sour.
The last game in Thomond was draining, emotionally and physically, but Munster got the job done against Ospreys and there was one more match — the Pro12 final against Scarlets. At least it’s a big one to go out on.
After 13 years, the Donnacha Ryan-Munster story is finishing.
It wasn’t meant to end like this but that won’t stop him giving his all tomorrow.
Do it for Anthony, do it for his team-mates — a trophy to mark all the progress made this season — do it for the province and supporters that have given him so much for so long and, after all that has happened, do it for himself.
One more time.