THERE’S A LARGE cut snaking along Ryan Baird’s right hand, which arrived courtesy of the boot of Ox Nche when Leinster played the Sharks earlier this month.

Baird is loving being back in the rough and tumble of rugby, having spent too much of last season looking on from the sidelines. Sitting in the press room at the Stade Marcel-Michelin after playing his part in a comprehensive Champions Cup defeat of Clermont Auvergne last Saturday, Baird was quick to remind us that he hadn’t played a European Cup game for six months, having last featured in April’s quarter-final win against Sale.

The Ireland wait stretches back even further. Andy Farrell named his squad for the November Nations Championship games on Wednesday, and 364 days on from Baird’s most recent appearance in green, the alphabetical format saw the Leinster man’s name top the list of forwards.

“To be fit and healthy is where you want to be,” says Baird, still buzzing from the collective effort in Clermont.

“I swear, I just want to play in those big games and find out as much about yourself as possible and see how much you can just contribute to successful performances, because there’s no better feeling when you see the coaches after the game or the players, and you give them a handshake and there’s just a shared knowledge without words that you know how much work you put in that week.

“It’s a big season, so what does that mean? (It means) We’ll hopefully have loads of opportunities to feel that way.”

Baird hasn't played for Ireland since last November. Gary Carr / INPHO Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO

Having started four straight games in the Ireland six jersey last November, Baird fractured his tibia in the closing autumn Test against South Africa. He wouldn’t return to action until after the Six Nations, playing just two games for Leinster before suffering a recurrence of the problem, which ruled him out of Ireland’s summer Tests.

All in, the 27-year-old played just nine games for club and country across 2025/26.

“Last year was frustrating from a not playing perspective, but I felt I learned a lot.

“I obviously had a few games that I played at the start of the season, then I had my injury and then I came back and played two games and I felt that I came back with a really good mindset and picked up where I left off.”

Baird details the enjoyment he got out of Leinster’s recent two-game tour to South Africa, before expanding on the mindset changes he’s adopted from last season.

“Just not holding onto things as much, not holding on to mistakes or pressures and just kind of taking every moment or taking every game for what it is.

“It’s another chance to go out and just play rugby, have fun with your teammates and for me, I recognise the importance and what’s at stake with the competition, but then I like to kind of bring it back to… Josh van der Flier would always be a man who I’d lean to on games like this (v Clermont), where he just says, ‘Go out there, have fun, work hard, play hard’, you can control your effort and that’s one of the main things.

“So just learning to keep things simple and not hold on to things as much.”

Yet as many sportspeople will tell you, that’s easier said than done.

“Very much so. And I’m saying that now from a place of just having a good game, but I look back to the Stormers game at the start of last season or the Lions game this season where I didn’t quite have that ability to let things go, and my performance wasn’t where I wanted it to be.

“So I know what it’s like to be on both ends of it, and every week I’m striving to get to where I felt I was today on the pitch, quite free and being able to let things slide and focus on the moment in front of me.

“So it’s the constant battle every week. I know what it’s like when you get there, but every week starts from zero and you’ve got to go get there. So I learned that, but also every week you’ve got to go earn it. Nothing’s given to you in this game.”

The 27-year-old has enjoyed a strong start to the season. Steve Haag Sports / Christ/INPHO Steve Haag Sports / Christ/INPHO / Christ/INPHO

The new season has also required Baird and Co adapt to new law application guidelines around the maul. The shift means that if a defender gets beyond the ball in a maul and/or into a pulling/dragging position, they need to immediately leave the maul and re-join at the back – meaning a player can no longer ‘swim’ through.

“I think it’s just the importance of the first three seconds, the violence at which you can disrupt it immediately, because if you get caught high on the outside, and you’re not particularly aggressive, once those guys reload out, you’ve lost four legs and you’re going to get walked backwards.

“The key for any team really is just that first three seconds of violence will sort it out a little bit, and then after that you’ve just got to make smart decisions.”

Baird was part of a dominant effort from the Leinster pack in Clermont, with a number of players showing a timely run of good form leading into the November Tests. The versatile forward appeared genuinely surprised when informed Farrell was due to name his Ireland squad this week, but there was no masking his desire to get back into camp.

Saturday’s URC meeting with Munster is another prime opportunity to further his case.

“Really big game. I mean, we fucking lost last time in Croker, you know what I mean? So we’re really looking forward to it. 

“Plain and simple, you don’t want to lose to a team that are three hours down the road, it’s plain and simple. It’s a rival, and you don’t like losing, but full stop you don’t like losing to Munster at Croke Park.”