Ryan and wider leadership group driving standards on and off the pitch 

GROWING INFLUENCE: Ireland's James Ryan.

There were times when the absence of Johnny Sexton from an important Test match would have provoked palpitations among Ireland supporters.

Ross Byrne’s emergence as a creditable stand-in at fly-half has solved one part of what made them jittery and Andy Farrell believes James Ryan’s leadership qualities completes the circle.

SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

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SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.

Sexton, of course, remains central at the age of 37 to all that is good about Ireland’s play but the groin injury that has kept him out of Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations fixture in Italy has given the head coach an opportunity to broaden Ryan’s experience as captain.

This will be the seventh time the lock, who earned his 50th cap against France last time out, will lead his country. 

He was just 24 when Farrell first entrusted him in the role, at Twickenham against England in November 2021 and the Ireland boss can be more than satisfied at the development not only Ryan has undertaken since but also the rest of a wider leadership group he has empowered to drive standards behind Sexton since succeeding Joe Schmidt at the end of 2019.

“I’ve seen him grow massively as a leader because of the leaders he’s got around him,” Farrell said of Ryan. 

“I’ve seen all of them grow in a huge way over the last couple of years and James just happens to be one of those leaders who will put his hand up week-in, week-out, and lead from the front in how he performs on the field. He’s got massive respect in that regard but his leadership off the field has been pretty impressive as well.

“I think we’re very lucky. It’s well documented as far as our leadership group and the growth of them. I feel we’re in a great place that we would be more than happy for a handful of players to captain the side.

“James is the lucky one this weekend who is able to do that. But Garry Ringrose is an exceptional leader. I’m sure that he’ll be captain of Ireland one day. Peter O’Mahony, Iain Henderson, and more and more of those type of players.

“You look at the development of somebody like Caelan Doris or Hugo Keenan or Garry, there's a reason why they're playing so well, it's because of how they don't just lead themselves off the field, they lead others as well, and it's probably a rhythm to those types of players we're talking about.

“They tend to work unbelievably hard off the field and try and give as much as they possibly can to their team-mates so in that regard I feel we're pretty lucky.”