Rare McCarthy/ Ryan partnership a major plus for Leinster in London

James Ryan and Joe McCarthy have started just 12 times together in the second row between club and country.

MAJOR PLUS: Joe McCarthy and James Ryan were the starting combination away to La Rochelle on the opening day of the pool stages last December and again when the four-time winners accounted for Leicester Tigers in Welford Road the following month. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

There is no escaping the sense of bated breath around Leinster as Saturday’s Champions Cup final approaches. Toulouse remain the acid test in European club rugby and the province land in London with questions over their mental strength after their last two final traumas, an iffy attack and a defence only recently switched to blitz mode.

Lose and the spotlight on Leo Cullen and his management team will be intense and yet there is, alternatively, the argument that next year should still see them at their most dangerous regardless of this result given the arrivals of RG Snyman from Munster and Jordie Barrett for his short-term sabbatical from even further down south.

Maybe next May is destined to be their time, then, but that doesn’t mean this May can’t be too. They aren’t purring in the run-up to this final in the way they did in 2023 and 2022 but other factors offer encouragement.

Take the return of James Ryan. The 27-year hasn’t reached the peaks predicted of him in his earlier days but he remains a key cog in this Leinster machine. He is a man with plenty of backers inside and outside the tent who feel the player is undervalued and the bulk of his work done unseen.

Ryan’s return for the URC game against Ulster last week, after a long stint on the sideline, isn’t just significant in terms of his singular presence. It brings into the focus the partnership he can have, and is still developing, with Joe McCarthy who has himself been hailed as a potential difference-maker against the likes of Toulouse and other beastly packs.

It is actually a fledgling pairing.

Ryan and McCarthy have started just 12 times together in the second row between club and country. There have been only nine starts in that and a shared game time amounting to only 633 minutes. That amounts to less than eight games in the saddle together and it shows just what Leinster have been missing in recent years.

“He’s obviously co-captain, a big leader in the squad,” said McCarthy of Ryan’s return. “If he’s away on his rehab he’s not as included - he’s still in the group - but he’s not as involved in probably the day-to-day and things like that.

“Having him back is massive, a bit of input around the lineout. He’s played so many big games, has a lot of experience, he’s very good in those big games so great to have him back, as a forward pack, adds a lot.” 

Ryan and McCarthy have only rarely packed down together in really big games. They were the starting combination away to La Rochelle on the opening day of the pool stages last December and again when the four-time winners accounted for Leicester Tigers in Welford Road the following month.

And … that’s about it. Injuries have played their part with a callow McCarthy managing only four minutes at the back end of the decider defeat to La Rochelle in Marseille two years ago and then sitting out the follow-up in Dublin 12 months later. They have yet to pair up for Leinster in a Champions Cup knockout game.

“I just got back the week before when I played against Munster off the bench,” said McCarthy of last May. “So I didn’t play any of the knock-out games coming up to the final. I was hoping that if I was fit I would play but unfortunately I didn’t make the team.

“It’s good this season. I’ve been super involved, played all the knock-out games so it definitely means a little bit more, playing the whole way through. Hopefully I get selected to play but yeah it feels good now that I’m here at this point.” 

Ireland has been a similar story with just three joint appearances logged, one in a World Cup warm-up against England, another against Romania in France, and the most recent being an hour spent in each other’s company when Italy visited the Aviva Stadium in February.

Having both of them fit and ready for this potentially epic clash brings the added bonus of strengthening the province’s second wave with Ross Molony and Jason Jenkins both offering potential impact off the bench. It also adds food for thought into the debate as to whether they should go 6/2 or 5/3.

It’s not quite the ideal scenario. Ryan’s 80 minutes in Belfast was his first appearance in almost three months. A rolled ankle kept McCarthy out of the win against Ospreys two weekends ago and he wasn’t risked in that loss at the Kingspan as well. So, they are both either undercooked or well-rested. That depends on your point of view but you couldn’t argue against the fact that Leinster are stronger with them in tandem.