Munster's Ryan says Barrett to Leinster is good for Irish rugby

The veteran prop says critics of the move are missing the big picture

'HUGE COMPLIMENT': Connacht Rugby’s Mack Hansen, Byron Ralston and Ava Ryder, Ulster Rugby’s Jacob Stockdale, Rob Herring and Abby Moyles, Munster Rugby’s Kate Flannery, John Ryan and Paddy Patterson and Leinster Rugby’s Jamison Gibson-Park, Josh van der Flier, Aimee Clarke. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

Munster veteran John Ryan believes Leinster’s capture of All Blacks star Jordie Barrett for next season is a “huge compliment for Irish rugby” and that critics of the signing are missing the bigger picture.

The former Ireland prop also lauded former Munster team-mate Tyler Bleyendaal’s appointment as Leinster’s replacement for Ireland-bound attack coach Andrew Goodman.

In a major transfer coup for the current URC league leaders and Champions Cup semi-finalists, Barrett, 27, will leave his native New Zealand on a sabbatical from his NZRU contract with Super Rugby franchise the Hurricanes. 

The versatile 57-cap All Blacks back will join Leinster next December for the remainder of the season, returning to the province where he lived with his family in Meath as a young child alongside fellow future Test stars Beauden and Scott, during the early 1990s.

Ryan was speaking as Bank Of Ireland announced a five-year extension of its sponsorship agreements with all four Irish provinces in Dublin yesterday, expanding its current arrangements to also include backing of the Munster and Ulster women’s teams. 

The tighthead was reacting to critics of Leinster’s ability to sign another world-class player for next season having already signed double World Cup winner RG Snyman from Munster for 2024-25. 

To the naysayers, it is a worrying development that confirms suspicions the Dublin-based province is pulling further way from the others, with its backboning of the Ireland starting XV leading to further central IRFU contracts, thus enabling greater financial freedom to sign the best overseas talent.

“You can paint that a lot of different ways,” Ryan said. “I think people are looking at that picture totally wrong.

“You’re looking at a player leaving New Zealand and not going to Japan and not going to France but coming to Ireland. Obviously he’s got some roots there but it’s a move that makes sense and also it says ‘right, we’ve got a world-class guy in his prime, not an All Black who’s finishing up and leaving his international career behind him. 

"This is a sabbatical he’s taking and coming and playing in Ireland, which is a huge compliment to rugby in this country, I think.” 

Ryan, forced to sit out Munster’s two-game URC tour to South Africa after picking up a three-game suspension after a yellow card against Cardiff on March 30 was upgraded to a red, is cutting a frustrated figure being consigned to the sidelines at such a crucial stage of the season, his first disciplinary ban in a 13-year professional career.

Yet he was delighted for his former team-mate Bleyendaal, two years his junior at 33 years of age and on Tuesday named by Leinster as their replacement backs coach for Andrew Goodman, a fellow New Zealander lined up to succeed the departing Mike Catt as Ireland’s attack coach following the summer tour to South Africa.

Ryan was pipped to the Munster Player of the Year award by Bleyendaal in 2017 as the province reached the PRO12 final and Champions Cup semi-final, before a long-standing neck injury recurred for the former Crusaders fly-half which eventually forced his retirement in 2020.

The pair caught up with one another last summer when Ryan played a season with the Chiefs and went up against Bleyendaal in his backs coaching role with the Hurricanes he was recruited for by then head coach Jason Holland. 

The front-rower is not surprised by the career arc the Kiwi has taken since being forced to hang up his boots.

“It’s huge for him. He’s a relatively young coach but I know his calibre as a player. He unfortunately had a lot of injuries with us, he came in injured but the minute he came into us you could see he had that leadership.

“And it was beyond leadership. He was nearly contributing to the coaching. He did a lot of hands-on coaching with us and was previewing and giving presentations to us so you could always see he was going to be a top-quality coach.

“I had the pleasure of playing against him as a coach last year as well and he was loving it. With Jason Holland moving on, he was content in the job he had so he’s clearly building that experience.

“Leinster are a world-class club and to get that job as an attack coach is a huge credit to him, so I’m delighted for him. I was onto him yesterday and sent my congratulations to him.”