Sean Farrell reports from Guildford
DONNACHA RYAN IS right where he wants to be.
After coming through a nightmarish 13-month injury period even being directed behind the cordon for media duty in the darkest corner of Ireland’s team hotel is a task he takes on with a genuine smile.
He’s getting on great, looking forward to a possible crack at Italy and then, WHAM, a colleague hits him where it hurts: Italy 2013.
“I remember it well, yeah,” the lock grumbles before the question is finished.
“I forgot about it until you mentioned it to me,” he follows up with mock gritted teeth.
It happened. There’s no escaping that, certainly not when the Tipperary man had to wait nearly a full 29 months before being unleashed in a green jersey again.
“It wasn’t the greatest day. We were decimated with injuries. I suppose we were all volunteering to go out on the wing at that stage,” he jokes when reminded of blindside Peter O’Mahony’s cameo out wide.
It was such a really bad day for Ireland. I thought that was the last I was going to play for Ireland, more or less. So it puts things in perspective.”
Ryan must be relishing the possibility of settling a score and exorcising some ghosts of that day. However, he is outside most people’s conversation when discussing who Joe Schmidt should pick to partner Paul O’Connell in the engine room.
Devin Toner and Iain Henderson may be at the forefront of the debate, but the experienced Munster man is doing his homework with the hope of catching up fast.
“The guys have a lot more familiarity with Joe. So I do a lot of work on the laptop trying to catch up on guys and my main goal is really to grasp a more in-depth understanding of the way the lads play under Joe’s system for the last few years.
“I’m kind of only doing for the last few months. So it’s challenging and it’s definitely engaging, which I love, and when you hit the pillow in the evening you’re out for the count which is great.”
The mind is catching up, but so is the body. Such a long spell out of the Test arena takes its toll and, Ryan admits, only regular match minutes than build him back up to his previous best.
“I’m quite rusty, being honest. Like. I could run all day, but you can’t legislate for the amount of games you need to play to build resilience and tolerance for big tackles. But yeah, small steps and building blocks every day.
“You can’t hide (rustiness) and people let you know about it as well – which is great. I definitely leave my emotions and feelings at the gate.
“No, it is great, that’s what you’re here for is driving that standard and trying to get better every day. That’s why it’s such a thrill to be in the squad and to be playing front of a sell-out crowd.
“I wouldn’t mind that at all. I like to train at an intense level anyway and then switch off afterwards. it’s very efficient, which is good and it’s very enjoyable.”
‘An Italian-Limerick accent’
Another man who might be at a different stage of battling rust if he is passed fit to play on Sunday is the key to Italy’s attack, Sergio Parisse.
The number eight and captain is an inspirational figure and Jacques Brunel must be hoping that he can be the catalyst that snaps the Azzurri out the sleep-walking state which was enough to beat Canada, but will put them on the wrong end of 40 points against the Six Nations champions.
Ryan found himself comparing the Argentinian-born, French based, Italian star to Ireland’s own totemic leader, O’Connell.
“Maybe if he had an Italian-Limerick accent… he probably has that sort of impact on the team.
He hasn’t played much now, but he has the caps in behind him and that stands to him a lot. Sure, he’s a big game player, so if he’s involved he’s the one we need to be looking out for.”
“He had a fantastic game that (ill-fated March 2013) day.
“It was as if he was mind-reading line-out calls. You can’t take them for granted, they are capable of a fantastic performance, we didn’t perform to our abilities and that’s something you need to get right in training.”
Hopefully, by Monday morning every Irish player can put the whole ugly debacle of that day behind them for good and move on to topping another World Cup pool. Right where Ryan wants to be.
