Ryan: It’s important that we can have a bit of craic

Joe Schmidt may possess a reputation as a rugby anorak with an obsessive attention to detail but the Ireland head coach knows too that even the modern game has to make allowances for some old-school fun now and then.

The Kiwi was speaking about the mooted World League when he touched on some of the old values last Friday and, while the days of rugby players painting the town red in the middle of a tournament are long gone, then there is still a time and a place for some R&R.

So, while there was plenty of heavy lifting done during their three-day stay in Belfast last week, there was a bite out one night and a run around the city in the iconic Black Cab tours to see the Peace Line, the Titanic Quarter and a whole lot more.

The hope is that the mix of work and play will prove an ideal recipe for a squad that has stuttered its way through the opening month of the Six Nations and one in need of an upsurge in form and spirits prior to the games against France, this weekend, and then Wales.

“It hasn’t been all work, we’ve got to enjoy each other’s company a bit,” said Leinster lock James Ryan who was rested for the last game, away to Italy. “We had a few beers in Rome after the game as well. So it’s important we can have a bit of craic and get away from the bubble.”

They know they aren’t delivering their lines with the polish they can. Like Schmidt, Ryan landed on accuracy as his first port of call when asked what has been below par. Setpiece is another ‘could do better’ line on the mid-term report card. It all sounds simple enough but momentum is a strange thing in the Six Nations. Start well and the competition opens up. Begin poorly and you can spend the entire journey trying to avoid a regular succession of potholes.

“It’s fine margins,” said Ryan who, lest we forget, still has an 86.6% win ratio with his country.

Look at Wales, they went to Rome and coughed up two tries and beat England a week later.

"It’s very little that separates an outcome at this level. I think we’re not that far away and we’re looking forward to getting stuck into next week now so we can put in a performance that we can be proud of in the Aviva.”

The impending visit of the French evinces fond memories. It was in the Stade de France last year where he made his Six Nations debut and, while the end result was memorable, he could do without the type of drama that required that decisive drop goal from Jonathan Sexton.

Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 v Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 hopefully Wales win. Think Ireland 🇮🇪 v France 🇫🇷 could be a belter of a game depending on which French side turns up!

— Michael Rogers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿⚽️🏉🚙🐘 (@leahcim77) March 2, 2019

The consensus is that this isn’t as good a time to be catching France as was the case a few weeks back. Schmidt spoke about how they seem to have landed on the right answers to their many questions and Ryan knows that an XXL pack will take some stopping.

It may be that too much store is being placed in the French defeat of a painfully thin Scotland a fortnight ago but, whatever the well-being of the visitors, the return of a fit and fresh Ryan is a boost in itself for the reigning champions. It’s still less than two years since the freakishly talented second row made his Irish debut over in the US and such has been his centrality to the side since that it left him an uncomfortable spectator on the sideline in Rome two weeks ago.

“I’m probably a bad watcher. It’s not easy, you kind of hate being on the sideline watching, you feel kind of helpless. It wasn’t great at times but I think there was a small bit of relief towards the last quarter, I maybe got to enjoy it a small bit more.”

Noel McNamara’s gave him a taste of what he missed in Italy with a typically combative effort when the two squads trained in Belfast on Friday. Ryan was tempted to bark at some of the bites but curbed his tongue when he recalled how it was him landing those blows just three years ago.

There are some who will wince at the thoughts of him taking that punishment in training, the concern being that so much is being asked of this 22-year old whose game stats speak loudly for his ability and the physical load he undertakes.

“When I’m out there I’m definitely not going to hold back or mind myself. I don’t think that would be the right approach.”