James Ryan: Leinster players have to take some blame for Bilbao blow-out

BLAME GAME: James Ryan says that Leinster’s players have accepted their share of the blame for the Champions Cup final loss. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon.

James Ryan says that Leinster’s players have accepted their share of the blame for the province’s Champions Cup final loss to Bordeaux-Begles.

The loss to the Top 14 side in Bilbao, and the nature of it, has magnified the spotlight on Leo Cullen, Jacques Nienaber and the rest of the coaching staff given it was just the latest in a lengthening line of failures to get over the line again in Europe.

Cullen has gone public to declare he is still the man for the job. Nienaber just this week cast doubt on whether he will see out his contract through to the summer of next year when suggesting that fan disgruntlement and media pressure could force him out.

If the coaches ultimately carry the can then the players are obviously an enormous part of winning or losing, and Ryan accepted that the playing squad has to take its share of responsibility for that disappointing performance in the San Mames late last month.

“Yeah, we have taken ownership as well. We were off Monday after the Champions Cup final and then we were back in Tuesday and we had a couple of days where we were we had a pretty honest open review and then we had to turn the page pretty quickly.

“It is something we'll revisit as well at the right time, but we were a little bit off in Bilbao and it's just about making sure that we're at our very best now this week to hopefully put ourselves in the opportunity to get into another final.

“But yeah it's tough, it is tough, but you've just got to be accountable.” The club responded in the best way possible with a 59-10 defeat of the Lions in last weekend’s URC quarter-final on home soil, but they know from bitter experience that this sort of bounce can be deceiving.

It’s only two years since they followed up an extra-time Champions Cup final loss to Toulouse with big wins against Connacht and Ulster and then a shock URC semi-final home loss to the Bulls. There is no place for complacency this week.

“We probably acknowledged that [on Monday] around how important it is just to keep getting better now because the Lions are a good side but the Stormers are a different kettle of fish coming up. They will fancy themselves.

“We know when it comes to finals you've got to be at your best.” If the Lions were ultimately disappointing last weekend then there was a point late in the first-half, when Thomas Clarkson was sinbinned and Henko van Wyk scored a try, that Leinster needed to catch their breath and stem a tide.

It was Ryan who did just that with his fifth ever try and a first for Leinster since getting on the scoreboard against Gloucester in December of 2022. His brother was a happy man too after winning €275 off the bookies on the back of it.

“People have stopped backing me [to score], but I generally hear one of my mates or something when they do back me because it's always like someone's after winning 300 or 400 quid,” Ryan laughed.

Never less than important to Leinster’s cause, Ryan is all the more valuable right now given RG Snyman and Ryan Baird have both been unavailable through injury. The same holds for Joe McCarthy whose form has been exceptional lately.

McCarthy has been scoring tries of his own, making big carries, making a nuisance of himself at opposition lineouts and mauls, and becoming a major target on Leinster’s own throw out of touch. Ryan has seen it first-hand.

“Yeah, it is something I've noticed. Definitely around some of the lineout stuff he's really grown there this year. He's very good off the ground. For a big man he's got a good spring, good shape in the air, even on a single lift so that's definitely an area that I've noticed has grown.

“Even off the pitch he's very good in terms of the work he does and things like his maul-D. It’s always been a strength of his. He's always been very good at getting through seams. He's big-bodied, he's got long levers and obviously he's been doing a good job for us there recently.”