James Ryan’s Leinster crop the type ‘money can’t buy’

By Brendan O'Brien

It’s all too easy to take James Ryan’s youth for granted. An instant success in the unforgiving world of professional club and international rugby, he had Guinness PRO14, Champions Cup and Grand Slam successes to his credit before the age of 22 in his first season in the senior ranks.

The alacrity of that climb is such that he was barely out of school this time three years ago when Leinster and Wasps opened their European campaigns at the RDS, as they will again this Friday. It would be another three months before he captained the Ireland U20s. A regular supporter at home games growing up, Ryan was among the crowd at the RDS in 2015 when Wasps stunned the Ballsbridge venue by claiming a 33-6 win for what would prove to be the first of five defeats in their pool that season.

With the old Heineken Cup consigned to history and the French and English clubs flexing their muscles on the pitch in much the same way as their administrators had off it, there was a sense at the time that the glory days were over for the likes of Leinster in Europe.

Ryan picked up on that.

Yeah, you were probably concerned just about the squads they were building, some of the teams, just because of the money they have, but the model Leinster has sooner or later comes through. Look at the number of guys who have grown up with Leinster, wanting to play for Leinster. You can’t buy that.

That loss to Wasps was actually Jonathan Sexton’s first European outing with his native province since his repatriation from Paris and he spoke six months later about how the culture in the dressing-room wasn’t what it used to be.

Ryan didn’t experience that either. All he has seen and soaked up this year and a bit is a group of players whose work ethic and regard for one another stretches way beyond the gates of their HQ in UCD.

“What I noticed was there was no hierarchy. Guys don’t just spend time with each other when they come in here from eight o’clock til three or four, whatever. People make efforts to catch up for coffees, or go for lunch, the off field kind of stuff.

“There’s that sense of brotherhood, I suppose. Those relationships are being built.”

Such is Leinster’s aura, the depth of their chart and the advances they have made in terms of coaching staff and other ancillary areas, that they approach this latest European campaign in their familiar position of front-runners. That’s a marked shift from the lows of 2015/16.

We don’t really ignore it or embrace it,” said Ryan. “What we spoke about this year, which was a big challenge for us, was consistency.

“There’s no point rocking up and getting a good win against whoever in a big week in Europe and then a week later playing somebody in the PRO14 and not delivering a performance that we can be proud of. If you looked at some of the games we lost last year — Connacht in the Sportsground is one that stands out — we want to be consistent week on week.”