Ryan warns plenty to work on ahead of Rome
Ryan was among the Wolfhounds facing an anxious weekend to discover whether he made Joe Schmidt’s pared-down squad for the trip to Rome, after the Ireland A team was beaten 18-9 by the England Saxons on a frustrating Friday night in Cork.
Munster’s redeveloped Musgrave Park presented a new look to the world and there were plenty of players hoping to make an impact of their own as head coach Schmidt and his backroom staff watched their second string attempt to stake a claim for Six Nations recognition.
Ryan was one of a handful who did make a case for the Ireland management to ponder in their weekend deliberations but there were also issues to consider for the training ground this week as a Paul O’Connell-captained side prepares for a return to the Stadio Olimpico.
“We didn’t get going in the second half but we put a few good phases together, got into the 22 a bit and were looking to go wide with something,” a frustrated Ryan said.
“Both teams worked pretty hard at the breakdown and we’ve got something we’ve got to work on. We could have been more accurate at the breakdown. England got a few penalties from us not releasing the ball but the ref was right to blow the whistle, so it’s something we could have worked on.”
The Wolfhounds, featuring 14 capped internationals, lost the breakdown battle to the English in Cork and allowed the Saxons to stifle Irish attacking intent before getting themselves on the front foot to score two tries to none in a disjointed encounter between two essentially scratch sides.
“It’s an interesting fixture, the Wolfhounds,” Ryan said. “You’re put together quite quickly and I suppose during the week, our prep time wasn’t as long as you’d normally have, particularly because there was a good mingle of lads coming back from injury with new guys, fresh faces and a few experienced heads. So it was an interesting mix. A good few players hadn’t played together but I think for the short preparation time we had, we did quite well.
“Set-piece D (defence), we’ve worked on that and we all have quite similar philosophies throughout the clubs and I thought our set-piece D was quite good today. Our lineout was quite good and our scrum went quite well as well.
“I think we were quite clear on our roles in attack but I think it was us not having our barrels over the ball and clearing away the English players from the ruck and then conceding those penalties was where we let ourselves down.
“They’re big lads, the English, and once they get going, get up a head of steam, maybe we sat back a little bit in our D.
“We could have got a bit harder off the line and probably could have stopped them on their side of the gain line, as opposed to our side and maybe we soaked up a bit. It’s definitely something we can work on going towards the Six Nations.”
With Sean O’Brien getting an invaluable 51 minutes of game time under his belt against the Saxons following a lengthy spell on the sidelines post-shoulder surgery, competition in the back row grew even more intense but Ryan, handed his Test debut against Georgia in November, made a strong case for inclusion in Schmidt’s squad, not least with a telling first-minute tackle on English centre and recent Rugby League convert Sam Burgess.
“I knew this was a platform, absolutely, and Joe said to all of us, ‘you never know who could be involved next week in Rome’, so for somebody it was a chance to put their hand up and say ‘look, I’m ready to go’ and I think there were several individuals who played well,” said Ryan.
“I was happy enough with my performance but the rest is in the coaches’ hands. I can’t influence that, all I could do was play as well as I could.”
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