Ryan ready to fly for Falcons

TIMMY RYAN was just a couple of months into his contract with Top 14 side Toulon when he learned a salutary lesson about what was required to survive and prosper in French rugby.

The former Munster Development and Irish under-age forward – a somewhat surprising target of Toulon coach Philippe Saint Andre – had been doing nicely for his new club and a couple of early scrums against French rivals Clermont Auvergne revealed little of what was to come.

“We had a couple of scrums and I was quite comfortable, under no real pressure,” recalls Ryan.

“Then they had the put-in and all of a sudden turned the screw. We got killed on their ball, over and over again; it was a total shock to the system and the worst thing was that, try as we might, there wasn’t a thing we could do about it.

“That game forced me to re-assess everything. I suppose I prided myself above anything in my ability to scrum. After arriving in Clermont I was ticking all the boxes in fitness and in training and probably I was in the comfort zone in terms of being able to lock the scrum out. After that experience I had to take another look at things and I had to get a lot meaner.

“In Ireland generally it’s ball in and ball out, but the French try to keep it and use the scrum to dominate. It pays off in many ways and I think it (the attitude in club rugby) is reflected in the way that the French national team treat the scrum.”

When Ryan headed for Toulon on the back of a glowing recommendation from former Munster and Argentinean prop Federico Pucciariello to Saint Andre, he wasn’t quite sure where his future was leading.

He knows he has gone only a small part of the way and relishes the opportunity now to take his challenge a stage further in the colours of Newcastle Falcons where he has been promised first team rugby from the off by club coach Alan Tait.

His departure from Toulon, beaten Amlin Cup finalists, was amicable and agreed following long discussions with Saint Andre whom Ryan says was totally up front, telling him he simply couldn’t guarantee him enough game time with so many top quality props on the books – former All Black Carl Haymans is the latest acquisition.

Ironically, Haymans’ departure from Newcastle pushes Ryan into pole position at the north of England club although he admitted it wouldn’t be plain sailing: “I’ve been given assurances that I will get my opportunities but I fully realise a lot of it is up to me.”

Even with a Magners League medal, an Amlin Cup runners-up medal and the memory of a fantastic game for Munster against the All Blacks to look back on, Ryan won’t dwell on the past for long, insisting: “it’s what happens in the future that counts.”

He is grateful to Saint Andre for being so supportive in allowing him to cut short a two-year contract, and to Toulon fitness guru Steve Walsh for embellishing his CV by recommending him to Tait at Newcastle.

“The thrust of Philippe’s chat was to say there was a place for me in Toulon but he recognised that I wanted regular games; he assured me I had the potential to turn into the player I want to be, with the possibility of going further, but that with so much talent in the club he couldn’t guarantee me the number of games I would have needed to progress further,” said Ryan.

In Newcastle he should get that, and Tait, who earlier signed Munster’s Jeremy Manning, was enthusiastic enough to comment: “It has been a hell of a task trying to find a tight-head prop of the quality that will help take this team on, but I’m more than satisfied that I’ve got my man.”

Ryan sees it as a major challenge to live up to expectation but hopes to have proved himself long before anyone else gets to raise a challenge for the number three spot in the team.

“This is my big opportunity; after all, I haven’t played more than 13 top class games in any one season, so it would be fair to say Alan is taking a risk. But I am confident I will repay that faith; it’s an honest opinion based on self belief.”