Ryan ‘would not shy away’ if asked to lead
IRELAND second row James Ryan has backed Johnny Sexton as captain but said he would not shy away from the opportunity to lead the team if asked to do so. The 23-year-old had been touted as a major contender for the role post-World Cup following the retirement of Rory Best but Ireland boss Andy Farrell opted instead for the experienced Johnny Sexton to lead the line under the new regime. Ryan spoke of his delight to be playing under the leadership of the 34-year-old Sexton but admits the chance to wear the armband would be too tempting to turn down. ‘I’m not even sure if I was in the conversation from a management point of view so I don’t want to blow my trumpet here, but if the captaincy of your country is there on your plate and they’re saying, “Do you want to be captain?” You’d say, “Of course”,’ said Ryan. ‘If it (captaincy) came and it was there for me I don’t think I’d shy away from it but we have a great captain now and we are very lucky to learn from him and be exposed to his point of view on things.’ And although Ryan believes he may not have been considered for the role at management level, the
discussions in the media had flattered him.
He said: ‘It is humbling to be put in the conversation by different journalists but it’s not something I paid a whole lot of attention to.’
Ryan has become familiar with Sexton’s leadership skills during his time at Leinster and has reaped the benefit of the out-half’s captaincy with the province winning the Pro14 championship in 2019.
The former St Michael’s man placed emphasis on the influence of Sexton’s leadership on young players breaking into the senior set-up.
‘We have our captain now, Johnny (Sexton), and he is an outstanding leader and we are all 100 per cent behind him.
‘Now that we have Johnny it’s brilliant. He’s somebody the younger players and I have learned a huge amount from on and off the pitch.
‘He is one of those Irish players that doesn’t come along very often. Being able to learn from him is class.’
Ryan was able to extract knowledge from another legendary Irish captain last week when Paul O’Connell was invited down to join Ireland’s pre-Twickenham preparations.
Ryan relished the chance to learn from the man he succeeded as Ireland’s leader in the engine room.
‘I sat down with him during the week and it was brilliant. Just to talk about his experiences and my experiences and how they compare.
‘He is someone I would have watched growing up for years so getting to sit with him and have an open and honest conversation was cool.’
O’Connell’s words of wisdom couldn’t save Ireland from a trouncing at the hands of the World Cup runners-up although Ryan was arguably Ireland’s standout performer in the highly-physical battle.
And the Champions Cup winner admitted that the contest with England was one of the toughest tests of his career yet. ‘It was an extremely tough game, up there with the toughest I have played.
‘Going to the home of the World Cup finalists was always going to be a big ask.
‘The most disappointing thing for us was that we didn’t fire enough punches.
‘They had a really good start like they did against us in the Six Nations last year and in the summer.
‘We went behind early, 14-0, and when the ball is bobbling like that it can be tricky.
‘We made a couple of unfortunate mistakes in that regard.
‘We started well (in the second half) and got a score early on and we matched them a bit better but overall the picture would be that, physically, we lost the battle, which is disappointing.’
While Ireland’s upcoming fixture against Italy was yesterday set to be postponed after Health Minister Simon Harris voiced concerns over the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus in northern Italy, the Ireland squad’s ordinary routine will likely remain unaffected for now.
The customary post-game review awaits the squad today which Ryan says can often prove to be a sobering experience for the team.
And he admits there have been times in the past when he has been brought back down to earth after thinking he has put in a high-quality performance.
‘(But there are) other times you might head in having not been as happy with your performance and the coach will pick out a couple of key moments you were involved in.
‘They (reviews) can be ruthless enough but I think we have got to be man enough to take the information on board and grow from it.’
There has been a negative backlash to Ireland’s sobering performance in Twickenham on social media but this isn’t something Ryan will allow to affect him.
‘I try to stay from all of that (social media). I wouldn’t actively go and find out what people are saying so we try to veer away from that.
‘If we were listening to what everyone was saying we probably wouldn’t be doing what we do.’
It is this maturity that put the Leinster man in the original conversation for Ireland captaincy and could likely see him inherit the role come the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve a lot of admiration for Johnny ”