Why he loves getting shirty

WHO was the first person to learn the Ireland team to face Australia once Declan Kidney had signed off on his first XV?

Well, it wasn’t the media. At this World Cup it’s a former number eight for Abbeyfeale RFC named Bevan Patrick Ryan.

That may seem a strange choice to reveal a matchday squad to in this instant information age but all becomes clear when you learn that Ryan is the guy whose company prints the numbers on the backs of the Ireland jerseys and the players’ names inside the collars.

“We get a little sneak preview,” admitted Ryan at Stahl Graphix in the Auckland suburbs this week.

“We deal with Puma, Asics, Nike, all the rugby that goes around at the moment. We’re doing all the Puma names and numbers at the World Cup — Ireland, Namibia and a couple of others.”

There’s no chance of the numbers falling off these jerseys, as happened to England’s when they donned their infamous black change strip to play Argentina last Saturday in Dunedin. Stahl heat transfers the numbers on to the Irish shirts at 165 degrees for eight seconds to ensure they stay where they can be seen.

“Each team has 44 shirts printed, one playing shirt and another reserve shirt for each player, and each player has his name and the number of caps he has won printed into the inside of the collar,” Ryan added.

“Most teams usually embroider that on the sleeves and the All Blacks have them embroidered in black on one of their sleeves, so you can’t actually see it. But most teams do it, the name, the caps, the date of the game and who they’re playing.

“Ireland have the game date and opposition embroidered on the sleeve and we have an embroidery building right next door, so we put the numbers on and the names here and then they go next door and get the embroidery on the sleeves.”

And with Test-soiled rugby jerseys a hot commodity in charity auctions across the world these days, that personal touch adds considerable cachét, not to mention value to a individualised Ireland shirt.

“It certainly does,” agrees Ryan. “It adds a fair few dollars to the auctioneers once it’s got the name on it.”

So what’s this about Abbeyfeale RFC? Turns out that Ryan, with a few seasons under his belt at Wellington, spent a very enjoyable season at the Co Limerick club in 1999-2000.

“I loved it mate, probably the best time of my life. Just the people there, the rugby wasn’t too serious at that stage, just a lot of fun with the boys and a town that has 38 pubs in it, you can’t go wrong, can you?”

All good things come to an end though, and Ryan returned home to New Zealand to captain Wanganui in the National Provincial Championship, now known as the ITM Cup.

“I had a contract, I was playing for an NPC team back in New Zealand so I had to come back to fulfil my contract after the year. I was definitely sorry to leave and I would have liked to have gone back but it didn’t happen.

“I eventually went to play in Italy, down in Catania in Sicily, which was completely different... a lot different. It was still a nice place, though, and I ended up marrying an Italian lady from the town so I can’t complain.”

Ryan was due to be among the near sell-out crowd at Eden Park this morning as Ireland faced Australia in Pool C, seeing his handiwork put under some intense scrutiny by the Wallabies.

“(But) I’m backing the All Blacks,” he said. “Them and the Irish, mate. Them and the Irish.”