Donnacha Ryan: Enjoyment is for those watching in the pub

As much as he enjoyed beating the best team in world rugby, Donnacha Ryan would gladly swap all the slaps on the back for another victory over the All Blacks this weekend.

Second-row Ryan, an integral part of an impressive tight-five performance that took the fight to the world champions in Ireland’s 40-29 victory in Chicago a fortnight ago, will face the All Blacks for the second time in three weeks tomorrow at Aviva Stadium.

Yet, while the nation continues to glory in their success at Soldier Field and the end of an 111-year wait for victory over New Zealand, the Munster forward and his colleagues will delay the partying for a while yet.

“We’ve got all those goodwill messages off people over the last while, but at the end of the day, they know that we have to back it up again next weekend,” Ryan said. “The place to enjoy that game last weekend was in the pubs of Ireland, really, but from our point of view we had a great time with our families and then we came back the next day and prepared for Canada. It’s a bit sobering, but at the end of the day, really enjoyable as well.

“It’s a different task ahead of us this weekend. People talk about nostalgia and back slaps, but at the end of the day, the challenge we have this weekend is ferocious.”

No greater will the challenge be than in the second row, where New Zealand will welcome back fit-again first-choice locks Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock, notable absentees through injury from the first game. Regardless of the opposing personnel, the Ireland mantra echoed by Ryan is that all that matters is the attention the men in green pay to their process.

“Brodie and Sam are back and I’ve played against the two of them before. When it comes to line-out, attack, and defence, both sides of the ball, obviously we put a bit of pressure on them the last time. Without a doubt, they’ll look to rectify that. They’re world class. Brodie has been World Player of the Year. It’s an enormous challenge. We’ll have to be on our games this weekend.

“For the last game, and for this game, it’s detail-focused. If you start to measure your performance on emotion, you are going to get those changes [in performance] but it’s the detail, and the process, and how you execute that under pressure.

“The small margins in this game are enormous. A fingertip to a ball can be absolutely huge. That’s what a lot of these big games hinge on. I think if you do focus on the emotions a lot, then you do have those massive swings, but I do think we’re in a good place to focus on the detail and try to execute them.”

Of course there is a place in Ryan’s thinking for sentimentality. After a difficult period in his career over the past two seasons, where injury has followed injury, a day like the one at Soldier Field has given him pause for thought. So too did last Saturday’s Test against Canada, when he was the only starter from Chicago named in the matchday squad the following week. When he did come off the bench, it was to join several familiar faces from Munster, including Ireland debutants John Ryan, Billy Holland, and Jack O’Donoghue.

“You have a massive amount of perspective. When you’re a few years older than the rest of them, you are quite sentimental. You saw the pack last weekend, we had six Munster lads in the pack, which was great.

“We had a bunch of new caps and they were thrilled to get a run and it was great to share that experience with them, because when I came in for my first cap, there were a load of Munster lads in the pack as well and it was just a great feeling to be playing with your friends and, obviously, you develop relationships with the fellas up here as well, and that’s what I think is really special about this team, that we gel really well and those last few minutes in the game, that’s when you have to rely on the bond between guys.”