John Ryan still has boxes to tick before he hangs up Munster boots

The prop recently signed a new one-year extension with Munster which will take him into a 15th season. 

VETERAN: John Ryan is set to make his 239th Munster appearance when his side face Edinburgh on Friday. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

John Ryan has not signed on for another year at Munster just to make up the numbers. The veteran prop had a one-year contract extension with the province announce this week, a deal which will take the Corkman and former Ireland international into a 15th season, by which time he will have turned 37.

Age, though, is just a number, according to Ryan, who said he still has plenty of ambitions to fulfil before he hangs up his boots. As he prepares for Munster appearance number 239 at home to Edinburgh this Friday night at Virgin Media Park, Ryan said: “I do think there's a bit in me… I just got a bit of hunger. I think I'm going well enough.

"I haven't ticked all the boxes yet, let's put it that way, and I didn't think about retiring really… it never came into my head. Luckily I've got this out of the way and I can concentrate on rugby for the rest of the season now that I have another year of it.” 

Ryan is now set to extend his third stint as a Munster player having been released during at the end of the 2021-22 campaign. Having settled in to a new life at Wasps, his fortunes took a turn for the worse when the English Premiership club went into administration. 

He returned to Munster on a short-term contract for 2022-23 but had already signed for New Zealand Super Rugby franchise the Chiefs and so missed the URC title run-in. While he collected a winners’ medal on his return, missing out on the final against the Stormers in Cape Town has left an itch still needing to be scratched with the 2014 and 2015 Six Nations winner.

"I did get the medal but I think having a pair of boots on and standing on a podium while the captain lifts the cup is very important to me,” Ryan said on Tuesday, before his former Chiefs boss Clayton McMillan was revealed as next season’s new Munster head coach.

"I've been on a few podiums but I've been in a pair of trainers and a tracksuit, so I think it's almost important for me to tick that box and I'll keep fighting for that as long as I have a contract.” 

Fellow veteran and tighthead prop Stephen Archer remains Munster’s leading appearance maker on 295 caps but while 250 is now in sight for Ryan he insisted he has already reached the milestone he craved "I don't measure things on caps, I suppose, but it is a really cool thing to have as well. It's really cool.

"I'm thrilled to have got to 200 because when I did leave the first time I was on 197 so that was a bit of a knife to the heart.

"I got to 200 and that was huge to me, I think that was the milestone I was looking for. But for now it's about not making up the numbers next year for me, I'm looking to be playing a good bit next year and age is just a number.

"I'm looking to push and push again next year and that's all that's on my mind and I don't think that will change as long as I'm playing.”