THE PLAUDITS WERE scarce on the ground after the home loss to England and the Irish squad arrived back in Dublin to a hail of criticism.
One man that has been immune to naysaying since his promotion to the starting line-up is Munster’s Donnacha Ryan.
As lineout leader, Ryan must put his hands up and admit Ireland’s failed at crucial times in the first half, allowing Scotland off the hook in a 12-8 reversal.
At one stage, as Rory Best assessed his options, Ryan stood at the back of the line and wondered who was going to lift him. That lift never came.
“We made a few hiccoughs on the piece,” Ryan told TheScore.ie, “and I definitely have to take the responsibility for that.
“Jim Hamilton and Richie Gray are a couple of big boys and they made it difficult but we didn’t help it by making a few errors.”
It did not help Ireland that Ryan missed most of the pre-match build-up with injury but sore shoulders and ribs may yet hinder his involvement before France come to town.
His self-assessment on his injury is slightly more optimistic than the coaching staff but Ryan admits he is ‘probably telling them a few lies’ about his fitness. “It’s the body will go where the mind takes kind of scenario,” he adds.
Head maggots
Ryan, as the lineout chief, would have been consulted on-field by Jamie Heaslip in the opening stanza against Scotland before the Irish captain opted to hit the line rather than allow Paddy Jackson an early kick at the sticks.
He said, “Our maul has been going well lately so it was just one of those things. We went to the line last year [against Scotland] and scored a try off it, with Rory Best in the corner.”
Ryan shakes his head when he is asked if the loss to an average Scotland side is the lowest he has felt since coming into the Irish set up.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I love playing for Ireland… we don’t go out there to make mistakes. There’s a serious amount of belief in the team and I definitely think we’re doing some great things. There’s just a few things not going to hand.”
If that statement can be labelled as optimistic, Ryan’s take on the next step for Ireland sums up his world view and commitment to the cause.
“There are two ways of dealing with it. You can feel sorry for yourself or go outside that door and test your mettle,” he said. “The world keeps spinning.” He added:
It’s a funny thing. Whenever you lose, you want to lace up your boots and get back on the field. Get working hard.There’s a lot of mental demons, head maggots, going on.
“That’s exactly what you want to do. Get out there. You can either hide under the covers or get out and work hard.”
He’s one of our better players on the team. I reckon a Lions tour beckons…
Definitely – but he wont want to curse it. Lets hope Zebo can recover in time! But then again we dont want to risk further injury by sending over there
Headmaggots…great…thanks Donnacha that’s the porridge ruined.. ;-)
the best thing the rugby management could do would be to keep the media away. The players are being sidetracked with nonsense interviews and stupid David Brent like photoshoots where they’re supposed to look to be in a pensive mood. Heaslip was interviewed more than Obama the week before the English game.
Refreshing to hear such an honest self assessment from a player. In the absence of the great Paulie I think Ryan has really stepped up and has overtaken O Callaghan. Hope the last 2 games of the 6 nations are a bit more positive in terms of performance levels. Ideal chance to give youth a go now we have nothing to play for except pride. We have been spoiled for the last 10 or more years with some great players and performances given the size of our talent pool. We are in transition now but no doubt we will rise to the challenge again with players like Donnacha Ryan to the fore.
I think Ryan is twice the player o Callaghan is. Huge work rate, impact tackler, ball carrying and line out work is all top notch. O Callaghan it seems to me runs to ruck & tackle situations like a maniac, but doesn’t really make an impact when he gets there. Ryan & Henderson is the future
He could develop into a world class 2nd row. Horse of a man.
Seriously overlooked for the captaincy role and definitely nailed on for lions..
head maggots somehow i dont think this one will catch on, what an analogy
‘I definitely think we’re doing great things’. Along with dominant ball possession could you possibly turn all this into a handful of points.