James Ryan: It took me a while to find my confidence after head injuries

Ryan's record as a pro after his first season in 2018, which yielded a Heineken Cup, a Grand Slam and a Pro 14, read played 21, won 21

EYES ON THE PRIZE: James Ryan says he has found his confidence again. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

To look back over the sweep of James Ryan’s first few seasons and their canopy of astonishing performances as a professional player is to stand on a Himalayan peak and rank the summits in order of majesty.

His early days challenged all sorts of conventions. Ryan was press-ganged into a Munster jersey so that Joe Schmidt could run an eye over him before the summer tour in 2017. And he played senior rugby for his country before lacing a boot with Leinster.

The highest point? Everest may stretch further but K2 is widely accepted as the tougher ascent and it may be that ‘peak Ryan’ was reached not at Test level, or even in a rugby stadium for that matter.

His apotheosis may well have been the Heineken Champions Cup final in Bilbao in 2018 when his eleven carries and dozen tackles helped Leinster sneak over the line and past a physical Racing 92 at the San Mames Stadium.

It was a performance that earned him yet another man of the match award and his record as a pro as they flew back to Dublin that evening was played 21, won 21. Two more would follow before a first loss, against Australia, in Melbourne.

“My first season was surreal,” he says. “We won the Grand Slam, the double (with Leinster) and I remember other lads saying to me, 'enjoy this, cherish it, days like this don't come around too often'. I was thinking 'what's this fella talking about?” 

It would have been heresy at the time to even hint that he wouldn’t make a British and Irish Lions squad three years later. And that Warren Gatland would reference Irish struggles against sides of Racing’s imposing ilk as a reason.

Truth is, he hadn’t done enough recently enough to force Gatland’s hand back in May of 2021, his performances in that spring’s Six Nations, and in the Autumn Nations series before it, falling well short of his imperious best.

Context helps here.

Leaf through his injury profile and the number of head injuries suffered stands out like a sore thumb. There was one 18-month period up to earlier this year where he shipped such knocks in games against Argentina, Wales, Scotland, England and France.

World Rugby regulations meant he had to visit an independent concussion consultant at one point and it's only last March since he was caught by a reckless Charlie Ewels tackle two minutes into a game in Twickenham.

It was early May before Ryan returned but he marked it with an exceptional performance against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road and that kickstarted a run of club games that fed into two superb displays for Ireland in New Zealand.

“The big thing was I was just getting a bit of confidence back. It had been a tricky couple of seasons in terms of the head injuries and the extended periods I had on the sidelines and being in and out of the game a bit.

“It definitely took a while when I got back at the latter end of last season to - I suppose it’s a contact sport - to find my confidence to go and hit things again and to feel like I was at my best again.” 

None of this just happens.

Ryan didn’t really seek a soul to confide in. That time off last spring was used to work on his body rather than his mind and he trained his neck harder than anywhere else with tackle technique another priority in his attempt at future-proofing.

The biggest fright since came a few weeks ago at the Sportsground when he managed a rare poach against Connacht that left his knee in an awkward position as someone tore into the ruck a millisecond or so later.

What could he do but fear the worst as the joint crunched under the impact, but the pain ebbed away after ten or 15 seconds and, with it, the worry that his ACL had been damaged. Don’t try that again, Dan Leavy chided him later. He doesn’t intend to.

Andy Farrell might be inclined to agree. The input of a fit and on-form Ryan at the lineout, the maul, in the tackle, and his dependability to truck it up with ball in hand, will be crucial to overcoming the Springboks on Saturday.

Manage that and the man once hailed as the next Paul O’Connell will be well on course to becoming the old James Ryan again. To do it on this stage and against this opposition would be a statement for the collective as well as the individual.

If opposition coaches could magic up a side in the lab that could pose problems for this Ireland team it would come embossed with a Springbok on its chest. This is the home team’s opportunity to prove that they have an antidote.

“I'm not here to agree or disagree, or engage with any external narratives,” he says. “People wouldn't have said that Ireland would have gone over to New Zealand and won a Test series against the All Blacks but that happened.

“Now, that's behind us, of course, but the point I'm trying to make is that the only way to change these things, to change these narratives, is by winning, and is by having success. So for us it's all about winning.

“That's what it's all about this weekend. So yeah, we have an opportunity to play against a big, power-based team this weekend and it's exciting. We'll see where we're at at the back end of it.”