Tipp tornado braced to hit Down Under

FROM wiry teenage hurler to a Rugby World Cup forward, there is still more than a touch of the Tipperary fanatic in Donnacha Ryan as he prepares for the trip of his life to New Zealand next week.

Ryan, 27, completed his eight-year journey from inter-county hopeful to rugby’s highest stage on Monday when he was named in Ireland’s 30-man squad to take on the world Down Under next month, a decade of toil which brought back memories for both him and Ireland assistant coach Alan Gaffney, his former head coach at Munster.

“I was playing senior for Nenagh and I was told to put on a bit of weight if I was going to be considered for the Tipp minors,” Ryan recalled.