James Ryan: 'I've no doubt Joe Schmidt will have some tricks up his sleeve'
During Nations Six Session James Picture: A Sheridan ©inpho/dan Ryan Joe With Training Schmidt Legacy: 2019
Over five years since Joe Schmidt took an Irish tracksuit off for the last time but the Kiwi’s influence remains. You only have to talk to the Ireland players and coaches this week to be reminded just how much.
That said, time does erode even the most solid of pillars.
Of Andy Farrell’s core, 35-man squad for this November campaign, those players who only know of him second-hand outnumber the colleagues who worked under him during that spell as Ireland coach between 2013 and 2019.
Eighteen of the squad made their debuts after his departure, 13 owe their first caps to him and another four – Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray – were already Test players before he took over.
None had more faith shown in them than James Ryan who was still just a callow teenager without so much as a single appearance in a Leinster shirt to his name when Schmidt blooded him on the tour to the USA and Japan in 2017.
“Joe basically told Leinster that I was to play a game with a Munster development side and that's how I ended up in Thomond Park playing in a Munster game and [then] I went and played on the Irish tour.”
Schmidt’s faith was all the more striking given Ryan had sat out six months prior to it with a hamstring injury. One minute he was doing a captain’s run with UCD before an AIL game against Lansdowne. The next he was scoring a try on debut in New Jersey.
The New Zealander, already a huge success with Leinster, won three Six Nations (including one Grand Slam) during his tenure and he was named coach of the year by everyone from World Rugby to RTÉ and Philips before leaving these shores.
Ryan doesn’t underplay his legacy.
“It’s huge. Obviously what he did with Leinster was amazing. [Michael] Cheika came in and sort of changed the mentality a bit and maybe the perception of Leinster, and then I think he sort of took over the mantle, brought it to a new level.
“I would say maybe he changed the sort of expectation at a national level of what could be achieved. Some of the wins obviously stand out, like beating New Zealand in Chicago, beating them at home for the first time. The Grand Slam in 2018.
“I would say the ambition changed because of his legacy.”
This won’t be the first time the coach has crossed paths with his old charges since. Schmidt was assistant coach to the All Blacks when the sides met in last year’s World Cup quarter-finals and some of his trademark strike plays did major damage to Irish ambitions.
Ireland know that similar is possible on Saturday.
“His rugby brain, his strike plays are always world-class. That's a conversation we've had. There’s going to be something that we probably haven't seen. It's just making sure we’re loaded for everything defensively because I've no doubt he’ll have a few tricks up his sleeve.”
His take on Ryan has stood the test of time.
Now set to earn a 67th cap at the age of just 28, he exploded onto the scene, endured something of a dip in form and fortunes but has returned to top gear in recent times with both club and country. Why?
“I just think I’m enjoying it a wee bit more. I've had a good run, no injuries. I played the first round with Leinster in Edinburgh and was delighted to hit the ground running. I played four of the first six games so I just feel pretty good and I’m enjoying it, been injury free.
“So I’d say that's been a big part of it.”