James Ryan ready to ‘turn the page’

Losing may not be a habit for this Ireland team, and certainly not as far as James Ryan is concerned, but pinpointing the reasons for defeat and moving quickly to improve is as much a key to success as knowing how to string together victory after victory.

As Ryan, 22, deals with the unusual experience of just his second Test defeat in 14 Ireland appearances since his international debut in June 2016, the lock is also determined for the squad not to repeat the errors that led to last weekend’s 32-20 reverse to England, as Joe Schmidt’s side prepare to face Scotland at Murrayfield this Saturday in the second round of Guinness Six Nations action.

To that end, the fixes required have been identified from a performance in which the head coach described his team as being beaten up by an impressive and intensely physical English side.

“I think the accuracy wasn’t where it needed to be,” said Ryan. “Some of our ruck work let them disrupt us in that area. Some of our passing too. I think if we get our accuracy in all the different components of our game, the energy will come with that.”

The Leinster second-row also believes Ireland’s attacking shape needs to improve and become less predictable, considering how effectively England shut down the Irish ball carriers.

“I think they were really good defenders, certainly a tough team to carry against. We knew that going in. They have big boys, a pretty big pack.

“I think it’s good experience for us, knowing that some teams are going to try and target us in the pack. If our shape is that bit better, we can tip on to the guy beside us or in behind.

“That comes into the accuracy part of it. If we get guys lined up quicker, in better shapes, then if they come up hard, you can tip onto the next guy or play in behind.

“Yeah, I think we need more variation. If they are flying out of the line, whoever has the ball can tip on or play in behind.

“It is not the first time it has happened. We faced that kind of aggressive defence before. We are just going to look at getting set that bit quicker this week. If we do that, it will make a big difference.”

The wounds have been sufficiently licked, as Ireland turn their gaze forwards towards the Scots.

“You can’t get too hung up on England,” said Ryan. “The focus since we came in is on taking the learnings. I think we’ve held each other to account, but we’ve got to park it pretty quick, because Scotland are a serious side and they’ve got some serious threats. Some of their strike runners, like Stuart Hogg, Blair Kinghorn... they’ve got a real X-factor, you know, Finn Russell at 10, and they like to move the ball around, play wide to wide, so it’s kind of a whole different challenge this week.”

There is certainly residual pain from last Saturday’s humbling, as Ireland lost at home for the first time in the championship since Schmidt took charge ahead of the 2014 Six Nations.

For Ryan, whose only previous defeat came last June in Brisbane in the opening Test against Australia, the loss on home turf was another unwelcome first.

“It wasn’t easy. It isn’t easy losing a Test match, especially at home at the Aviva, which has been a fortress for us with our home crowd and our families there. We were certainly hurting.

“I think the focus, since we came in yesterday, has been parking that, using the hurt, flicking the page pretty quickly, because it doesn’t get any easier. Scotland is a big one. They are on a bit of a run. They will be looking to make it two-from-two with that momentum. We’ve got to turn the page pretty quick.”

Ryan will also have to get up to speed with a new second-row partner in Quinn Roux, following the loss of lineout leader Devin Toner to an ankle injury, the latest casualty in the row after losing the services pre-tournament of Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne for at least the first two rounds.

“We’ve a few injuries there, but we definitely have a lot of strength in depth there. Quinn has come in and I think he did a really good job off the bench last week. He was really physical, he has that experience of calling the lineout with Connacht, too.

“Billy Holland has obviously been called in and we know that Ultane is in really good form, too, so guys have stepped out, but there’s an onus on the guys that are here to step up.”