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MANY PEOPLE WHO were involved in the 2023 Champions Cup final believe that the result would have been different if James Ryan hadn’t been forced off injured after 29 minutes.
Leinster had started like a runaway train, racing into an early lead as second row Ryan set an intensely physical tone.
Ryan was on a mission to shut down Will Skelton and he landed some telling blows.
Leinster were leading 17-7 when Ryan got an accidental knee to the head and had to go off. That’s where the tide truly began to turn in La Rochelle’s favour and they eventually broke Leinster’s hearts.
It’s never about just one player but Ryan’s sheer physicality was badly missed by Leinster.
That’s the kind of impact Ryan can have on big games. We saw it again last weekend as the Irishman was sprung from the Lions’ bench with 25 minutes left and helped to shift the physicality up a few notches.
His back-to-back tackles on Wallabies skipper Harry Wilson were big moments in swinging the game in the Lions’ favour.
First, Ryan dipped to smash Wilson along with Jack Conan as the Wallabies ran a play on second phase from a right-hand side lineout.
And just two phases later, Ryan chopped in low on Wilson, this time with Rónan Kelleher.
Kelleher followed in to finish the job after Ryan’s initial dominant tackle, with both Lions players then popping back up to their feet to barge, meaning further pressure for the Wallabies.
The result was that Wallabies scrum-half Jake Gordon passed the ball forward on the next phase.
Ryan will be looking to bring this kind of physicality from the off in Saturday’s third Test against the Wallabies, having been promoted into the starting XV in place of Ollie Chessum.
Joe McCarthy, who started the first Test but missed the second with a foot injury, didn’t train on Wednesday so that played into Ryan’s favour but this is a deserved selection.
Farrell knows better than anyone that Ryan has been playing excellent rugby for several years now. His best work can go under the radar, but the edge Ryan brings often allows Leinster and Ireland to play their best stuff.
He seems to have thrived with a more refined role in the last couple of seasons, a seek-and-destroy role that is more like the one he filled when first breaking through with Joe Schmidt’s Ireland in 2018.
Ryan does still offer subtlety and experience in the lineout and other areas, as well as leadership, but Farrell likes how the Dublin native has honed in on his superstrength.
“He’s seen his niche in his game and he’s not trying to be somebody else,” said Farrell.
“He does all the unseen work, all the graft stuff and has done it with a bit of venom in his game.
“He hasn’t tried to be a ball–playing forward like some of the second rows have been, but he hits hard defensively and hits rucks really well, so we all need a bit of that.”
Ryan wasn’t selected for the 2021 Lions tour when Warren Gatland was in charge, with Gatland saying the Irish lock was “unavailable for personal reasons,” something that didn’t tally with Ryan subsequently speaking about his disappointment at not being picked.
Whatever happened in that case, Ryan always had a strong chance of being involved in Farrell’s squad this time around, given how big an impact he has had in a green jersey. Ryan has been used off the bench at times, with McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne starting, but he invariably makes an impact.
Ryan largely went under the radar as a Test candidate and then his selection on the bench last week raised some eyebrows outside of Ireland. But Ryan proved the doubters wrong and now he gets his Lions Test start.
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