THE IRELAND SQUAD all had their own ways of dealing with the disappointment of the World Cup quarter-final exit to New Zealand. For Ryan Baird, the answer was to jump in a rented camper van with his golden retriever, Mackenzie, and head north for a few days of fishing and golf to clear the head.
“We picked it up in Antrim. Then we went up to Royal Portrush, so I played, then my friend came up,” Baird explains.
“So I played Royal Portrush which was beautiful. I had these crisp mornings, complete sun the whole time, playing Portrush, Portstewart, played St. Pat’s up in Rosapenna and Sandy Hills… Like, I was playing some of the best courses in Ireland in perfect weather and I went fishing as well, it was incredible.
“I was (playing) off 10 at the start of the summer and I’m now down to seven; I’m on the journey to scratch, it’ll probably be a couple of years.”
The break allowed Baird to reflect on his experience in France, but also to switch off rugby.
“I knew I’d eight days off and once I left Dublin and went and got a bit more grounded into what I had; I had my dog with me, I was fully healthy after the World Cup so I started to appreciate those things more,” he continues.
You appreciate that you’re a person first, not a rugby player first, and you can get sucked into that when you’re playing so much rugby and it’s all you’re surrounded by.
“Probably after three or four days, I was watching the boys train or play and I was able to say I’m ready to come back. It was really four or five days of a mental break. A new stimulus, didn’t talk or think about rugby.”
What happened in France still hurts. Baird explains that he was doing a talk recently and when the World Cup came up, he felt “a sick feeling” rise in his stomach. It might be some time before that feeling goes away, but the 24-year-old – who came off the bench in the wins against Tonga and South Africa – can still appreciate the overall experience.
“I was thinking before the World Cup what would success be? And, you know, let’s say, we won that match (against New Zealand), we kept going.
“Yes, that’d be pretty successful one but how we developed as players and as people over that, you know, two/three month period. I developed so much as a player and as a person, I learned so much through heartaches of not being selected and through highs of winning matches against South Africa in Stade de France.
“I think initially just after, you can’t deal with it without success but looking back after reflection, you can say ‘wow, I learned so much from that experience’ and I did. And I’m incredibly grateful for that opportunity.”
With the World Cup in the rear view mirror Baird’s focus is now fully on helping Leinster land some silverware again. He’s lined out twice for the province since returning to URC action and this weekend Leo Cullen’s side head to France for a Champions Cup opener against La Rochelle, the team who have ended their European dreams in each of the last three seasons.
“Again, come back to the emotion, you can get too emotional about this and go ‘oh my God, we’ve lost three in a row’.
“But this is round one of Champions Cup 2023/24 so we will put most emphasis on ourselves and our preparation, because, you know, as you saw, not enough in the Connacht game, but that last sequence from scrum to one width to one width back and score, like, was incredible skill execution, some great breakdown work, some great lines ran.
“That’s what we’ll focus on this week and if we can implement that incredible accuracy and detail that will get us to the right spot, then it’ll come down to the mindshift set of trying to dominate them.
Of course it’s going to be in the back of our minds that we haven’t beaten them. But, you know, you want to find the balance of getting yourself in that right state of perfect skill execution and then also having the mindset to physically dominate teams.”
This time they make the trip with Jacques Nienaber on board. The World Cup winning coach landed at Leinster last week and has already made a strong impression on the squad. Baird – who has moved between the back row and second row in last two Leinster games – feels his athletic profile will suit the defensive system Nienaber will look to implement.
“I really like his energy, the way he carries himself. He’s incredibly well prepared. You can tell he puts a lot of time into…you know he already knows our system in terms of the language.
“He’s been off for a few weeks but the fact he’s come in and says the words to our defensive system like he’s been doing it the whole time, to me is just, it’s incredible how much he respects us coming in here that he’s put the time to learn all that.
“And then his knowledge of his defensive system is very world class. I’m a big fan.
“Who doesn’t want to work with the two-time World Cup winning coach?
“For me, I love his defensive system. It’s leaning towards my athletic ability to be able to accelerate off the line, but do it repeatedly. So, yeah, during the World Cup I was looking at Pieter Steph du Toit and how he was defending and how he was playing. Picking up on stuff he was doing.
“For sure, I’m very excited to use this defensive system. But I think over the whole squad, if you look around Ireland we’re all incredible athletes. I think it really suits us to be using our athleticism to fly off the line but with control and put teams under pressure.”
