THIS YEAR’S SHOVE
After a momentous 12 months Ryan is aware of the need to push on and the loss to England has just sharpened his appetite
It was only the 22-year-old’s second loss in his 14 Ireland appearances. Remember, this time last year he was only establishing himself for province and country.
Within a few months he was a Grand Slam winner plus a domestic and European double champion with Leinster, dubbed the natural successor to Paul O’connell.
But even those with the talent and ambition to be the best can hit roadblocks – and that goes for this Ireland team as well as for Ryan.
“It’s a bit different than this time last year,” he reflected.
“My family and mates keep me a bit grounded. I think I can get a lot better, so I’m certainly not satisfied at all.
“I want to push on and it was a week like that (against England) that reminds us that we need to push on, too.
“We’ll look back on Saturday and use it as a learning experience – channel that bit of disappointment and anger.
“It’s not just disappointment. There’s certainly anger that we let ourselves down.
“It’s just channelling that in the right area to prime ourselves this week, to make sure we leave no stone unturned in our preparation.”
As Ryan notes, Ireland must “turn the page pretty quickly” as they travel to Edinburgh without his second row partner Devin Toner.
With Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne also absent, Ryan will be partnered by Quinn Roux from the start for the first time in the Six Nations.
Ryan admits it took the panel some time to come to terms with Saturday’s loss.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “It isn’t easy losing a Test match, especially at home at the Aviva, which has been a fortress for us with our home crowd and our families there.
“We were certainly hurting. The focus has been parking that, using the hurt, flicking the page pretty quickly because it doesn’t get any easier.
“Scotland is a big one. They’re on a bit of a run. They’ll be looking to make it two from two with that momentum.”
On the flipside, Ireland simply can’t afford another defeat if they are to have any chance of defending their title.
“We can’t, so there’s that bit of urgency about us, which I don’t think is any harm this week,” Ryan stated.
“It’s good having a bit of an edge about you leading into a game, that bit of fear. It drives you on.
“It’s knock-out rugby, isn’t it? There’s definitely that bit of an edge about us.”