The comment was Donnacha Ryan at his finest. No pretences; just good craic.
Munster supporters were gutted, back in January, to witness their side losing to Racing 92 in Paris. Their side looked on for another big away win until former player Donnacha Ryan won his side a late penalty that clinched it for Racing.
As they reflected on that loss, and looked ahead to a Castres game they would go on to win, Ryan lightened the mood with his post-match comments to Sky Sports.
“We dogged it out. It turned out to be a bit of a dog-fight but we were lucky to get there in the end,” he said. Asked if he was going across the corridor for a few post-match Pernods in the Munster dressing room, Ryan smiled and remarked:
“A few cans of Dutch Gold and take it from there!”
Ryan joined The Hard Yards podcast for its 50th episode and [from 27:30 below] offered up some more details on those post-match drinks with the Munster boys.
“That kind of caught me on the hop,” Ryan joked.
“[Pernod] Ricard is not the best of drinks. Margaux is the owner Jacky Lorenzetti’s famous wine so I probably should have gone in [to the Munster dressing room] with a bottle of that instead.
“No. we went in with a few bottles of Heineken. A bit more up-scale [than cans], I think.
“It was great to catch up with the lads inside afterwards. It’s very hard catching up with the boys at the weekend. It’s nigh’ on impossible because you’re on the go and, even after the game, the lads had to have a meal and get their rest in. You’re trying to do everything and juggle everything but when you do get a chance after the match, it’s great to catch up with the lads afterwards.”
The Tipperary native swapped jerseys with Keith Earls after the match and traded some war stories with his old teammates for a couple of post-match hours before the Munster squad departed for Ireland. Those chats and jokes still resonate and bring a chuckle from Ryan, one month on.
Ryan is confident, too, that Racing and Munster may yet meet again this season.
“Who knows, with the way things are going [in the Champions Cup], we may end up seeing them again. If we do a job down in Clermont, Munster are in a really good position. They play Toulon and I think they will do a job on them as they are looking really good at the moment.”
