To Heaven or to Connacht?
TIMMY RYAN’S old pals in the Munster squad better look away now. As they trudge around a muddy University of Limerick pitch, or squelch through the puddles in The Farm in Cork, their pal sees the Mediterranean when he unwinds.
“For the last couple of months it was okay,” says Ryan of the climate in his new home, in Toulon, south of France.
“As in, there were a few rainy days, but as of now just about every day is nice, in fairness. Sunny. Warm.”
Different to the Farm and UL, then?
“That’s the truth! In the summer we... train in the evening because it’s just too hot during the day.”
Ryan set out for RC Toulonnais at the start of this season in a quest to improve himself. Warming a bench in a red jersey wasn’t bringing him on, so he took it on himself to find somewhere he could develop. Having Felipe Contepomi, Jonny Wilkinson and Sonny Bill Williams as teammates might help in some respects, but he was determined to improve his skills as a tight-head prop. In Toulon he found that and more.
Take the rude awakening when the amount of live scrums on offer was revealed. “It was straight into it “No – boom, straight into it, an hour and a half of scrums... Bashing into it, hell for leather. Full on.”
Given the French passion for the scrum, though, it must be improving that part of his game– particularly when, as he says himself, the difference is visible when he meets old foes. “It’s definitely stood to me in terms of technique and so forth, coming up against so much top-class opposition in the matches, but even chatting to fellas about the scrums and so on brings you on, there’s so much interest in it here.
“For me I can see the progress clearly when I come up against teams I’ve played against already. Recently we played the Scarlets and I played against them four years ago in my first game for Munster – and I got smashed.
“With Toulon we did pretty well against them. We were going forward, we won a few penalties . . . that shows the progress you’re making. I’ve also learned a lot more about how the whole scrum works, how important the fellas around you are – that it’s not just about you and your position, because you can’t do it on your own.”
Ryan’s education hasn’t been confined to matters on the pitch, though he’s reticent about the standard of his French. “We’ve had classes but my French hasn’t come on that much because the team is so full of foreigners that nearly everybody speaks English. A few of the lads have done well with the French, but... some of them were studying the language for two years before they got here.
All things considered, Ryan says he’s enjoyed the switch in cultures, as it’s made him mature away from the training ground. “It was great when I joined because so many other new fellas came, and because we were all in the same boat, if you like, we formed a little group of our own.
“It’s different because in Leinster or Munster the players are all friends, and growing up to play in either of those provinces you’ll have your own friends as well outside the team. Here it’s that bit different because the players aren’t all from the same area, so you tend to pal around together.
“I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ve grown up a lot since coming over, even in the sense of moving out – I’d never lived out of home before.
“It was a big shock to the system, moving in by myself... – often when fellas move out they’re near enough to home, back with the laundry and stuff. It’s different for me, obviously, but I’m enjoying it.”
On the field of play Toulon have been doing well – they lie second in the Top 14 – but the importance of the team was brought home to Ryan early on in his stay.
“We haven’t lost at home yet, and I found out how important it is not to lose at home at the medical. One of the nurses said to us there, ‘you’re all welcome – if you win, but you can all leave if you lose’.
“This was to all the new players. I was a bit taken aback, there was a bit of ‘okay . . .’ from me, but we soon got used to it.”
They face Connacht tonight in the Sportsground in the semi-final of the Amlin Challenge Cup, and even if the western province has wobbled a little in recent weeks, it’s a formidable challenge to Toulon. Ryan accepts that for many French sides the domestic championship takes precedence.
“We’ve had our own games to focus on. The Top 14 takes a slight priority over the Challenge Cup – it’s just so big here, the Top 14, you can see it sometimes even in the Heineken Cup that even big clubs may not put out top-grade sides in away Heineken Cup games. “For us, though, the European games are every important. We had set out our goals at the start of the season of reaching the quarter-final in Europe and the domestic championship, which we’ve achieved, and now we only have two games to win a trophy, if we beat Connacht. So we might as well go and try to win it.”
Presumably the Toulon coaches have Ryan pestered, looking for insights into their opponents this weekend?
“Not really – if they want to know anything I’ll just put them on to the brother!”
Ryan is talking about his brother Dave, who played for Munster in their defeat of Connacht two weeks ago. Does Timmy have any other insights into the Mediterranean life that Dave and co. might appreciate?
“The only funny thing is they don’t really do chicken here, it’s mostly fish and steak in the restaurants.
“I’d have a little bit of fish, but pretty much every night we’re out it’s steak. That’s me, the Irishman abroad.”
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