Ringrose honoured to lead out Blues
SOME people are born leaders, others grow into that role with experience and the right mentors. Garry Ringrose very much falls into the latter category.
The 25-year-old has been handed the captaincy for the first time, in a PRO14 final for good measure. Five years on from his debut, Ringrose will lead out the province at the Aviva against Ulster tonight.
Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster have been on the lookout for new leaders in this squad, with Tadhg Furlong and Ringrose becoming key voices in recent years.
The Leinster centre was not seen as a natural leader when he was coming through the age grades, but he has the ears of his team-mates these days and will be commander-in-chief against Ulster tonight.
‘It’s probably the biggest honour of my rugby career, not even career, probably since I started playing rugby if I’m being honest,’ said Ringrose yesterday.
‘So it’s an incredibly special moment, an incredibly special opportunity.
‘When I found out, it was a pretty cool moment but I had to flick the switch and realise that’s irrelevant come Saturday, that what’s important is ultimately how we perform as a team.
‘So it was a special moment finding out but since then it’s been focused on what really matters this week.’
Cullen captained Leinster in typically understated fashion during his playing career, so it was no surprise to hear the Leinster head coach had informed Ringrose of his promotion with little fanfare earlier this week.
‘Leo’s pretty good on a Monday morning when we’re all in. The place is pretty busy from about 7am onwards,’ said Ringrose.
‘He usually comes down and has a conversation with everyone at some point before our first meeting at around 9am so it was some time in there, I can’t remember exactly, that he caught up with me and let me know. It was pretty cool.’
Johnny Sexton has been Leinster’s general in recent years and the Ireland out-half has revelled in that role. Ringrose will lead by his actions, but there is now the added responsibility of decisionmaking on the field, chatting with the referee and motivating the troops at key moments.
‘The preparation doesn’t change in terms of my individual prep as the week goes but you’re right, there’s one or two extra conversations to be had,’ he explained.
‘Thankfully there’s plenty of leaders on the pitch — the likes of James Ryan, Caelan Doris have captained before and then there’s Jamison [Gibson-Park] and Ross [Byrne] who is obviously a massive leader for us.
‘So thankfully, I’ve had a few conversations about what we’ll do and decide out there, and then an element of how does it feel? It doesn’t change anything really, it might just be one or two extra responsibilities but nothing changes from what we expect from each individual, including myself in the whole group.’
He has played under some brilliant captains for province and country, but Isa Nacewa is top of that list.
‘There’s a few but he’s probably one name that stands out,’ he said. ‘I feel very lucky that I got to play alongside him for as long as I did. I remember when I was in Leinster and hearing he was coming back and I was probably a bit peed off that they were pulling an outside back out of retirement at the time. But then from the moment I met him it was probably one of the best things that happened to me.
‘Johnny is another big figure I look up to as I was growing up.
‘There is Rory Best, who I’ve worked under and Peter O’Mahony from an Irish perspective. There are a lot of names I’m leaving out here. There are nuggets you try to pick up from people, including people on Saturday, try and learn and grow and based on what they see and say as well.’
Stuart Lancaster has spoken in the past about the quiet nature of this squad — apart from the likes of James Lowe, there are few extroverts in their ranks.
Players have been pushed to speak up and have a voice. It’s a strategy that has reaped dividends, with Ringrose flourishing.
‘I think we’ve gotten better as a group,’ he added.
‘I know when Stuart came in from England, he was probably more used to the English environment where people are a bit more outspoken.
‘The humble Irish personality was a bit more prevalent among our group. He definitely got a lot of guys to have more of a point of view on things and be more outspoken.
‘And that’s the exact same, we talk about not having a rank, it doesn’t matter if you’ve 100 caps for Leinster or one, if you’ve a point of view, it’s your duty to share it. It will ultimately make us better.’
“Meeting Isa was probably the best thing for me”