Nobody is perfect, even Leinster’s Big Cheese James Ryan

If there is one drawback to consistent excellence then it could be the manner in which it frames the odd, inevitable mistake.

James Ryan has done very little wrong in his still nascent career with Leinster and Ireland so his failure to convert a clear line break into a try for his province two weeks ago in Lyon has been highlighted and discussed more than you might otherwise expect for a lock.

Leo Cullen spoke after that 13-6 win about his team’s failure to convert chances into scores and how that allowed their French hosts to stay in the game longer than should have been the case. Ryan’s error late on was the most obvious example. It’s not something he needs telling.

“I needed to give that straight away, really. The ball kind of popped up and, in my head, I’m thinking, ‘run, draw him in and let Jordan (Larmour) or (Garry Ringrose) in wide’.

“What I should have done is passed it straight away and then become a support runner because when you’ve got that much space for guys like Ringer or Jordan you’re better off just giving it to them as quick as you can.”

It’s a nugget that brings John Eales to mind. The Australian legend was given the moniker ‘Nobody’ on the basis that nobody is perfect and, while Ryan is only human, he has an abundance of qualities that have seen him elevated in the court of public opinion into the running for next Ireland captain.

Cullen was good value when discussing the man Dan Leavy calls ‘The Big Cheese’ this week, particularly when asked to compare Ryan to himself as a player. “More dynamic,” he laughed. “Stronger. Taller. Heavier. Leaner. Better muscle mass. James is a slightly different prospect to what I would have been. I was just a grafter.”

Joking aside, Cullen sees room for improvement: “James has got a good mindset. He is a good competitor. There is still lots of aspects of his game he can get better at. That’s for us as coaches to try and help him along the path. He is always willing to learn, to pick up pieces, the layers of experience you pick up from losing last season, losing the Champions Cup final, the trickier Six Nations, the World Cup.

“The previous year, Leinster won the double and Ireland pretty much went unbeaten. What is he picking up in those tougher times? Why are the teams he is involved in not coming out on top? There is his playing and there is developing him as a leader so that he has a broader understanding of what’s going on.”

Cullen was surprisingly in-depth about the specific areas that Ryan can work on: his lineout calling, his general positional sense, his angles of running. Added to all that is the obvious scope for physical improvement. Ryan at 30 will be a different prospect to Ryan at 23.

Ryan is already a member of the Leinster and, since June, the Ireland leadership groups. It may be that Andy Farrell will give him another couple of years to hone his craft — as a player and as an authority figure — before offering him the armband.

Joe Schmidt has expressed a preference for Jonathan Sexton or Peter O’Mahony in the course of his ongoing book tour around the country but then Brian O’Driscoll was the same age as Ryan is now when he had the armband bestowed on him.

Ryan is already a world-class second row. He is a guaranteed starter and he has captained teams all the way up from schools through Ireland U20s. Handing him control now would be a very visible sign of a team starting anew after the disappointment in the Far East.

“Em, look, to be considered is an honour,” he said with no little hesitancy. “I mean, anybody would want to captain their country, you know? I’m not going to dance around it but it’s something... As I said, it’s a honour to be considered but not something that I’m really thinking about. With the block (of games) we have coming up, with the form other guys have shown, it would be a bit foolish to be thinking about anything but Northampton.”

That’s fair enough. Api Ratuniyarawa isn’t the type of second row to approach with your mind elsewhere but then Ryan already possesses a deep well of experience when it comes to the best proponents of his art.

Eben Etzebeth, Maro Itoje, Alun Wyn Jones and the Kiwi pairing of Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock have all been faced thus far and Ryan is already vying for membership of their exclusive club after just 23 test caps and 33 appearances for his province.

His next promotion is a matter of when rather than if.