He had to watch Ireland’s monumental Test victory over the All Blacks from the Chicago sidelines. An eager yet unused sub. On Saturday, two weeks later, he got his chance after only 11 minutes.
Ringrose is now fully into his stride as an Irish international. He had a handy debut in the 52-21 win over Canada and played 70 minutes of fierce, intense Test rugby against the world champion All Blacks.
He was caught cold in his initial involvements but really improved as the game went on. He made 41 metres on 18 testing carries that included a line break, a couple of All Blacks left in his wake and one super offload.
All this from inside centre – a position Ringrose, he admitted, had only previously occupied for 70 minutes in a Leinster U20s match. Take that one in for a moment.
He also looked like he was in a Test match. By the end of the match, a tremendous welt had formed all the way down the left-hand side of his face. The odds of it coming from a high All Black tackle are short. Ringrose said:
“[Inside centre] wasn’t too foreign, Joe rarely has a stone left un-turned and has everybody prepared. It wasn’t too much a shock to the system as it may have been thought of.
“The coaching staff and senior players lead by example and have the subs prepped and demand the most out of you during the week – whether you have one cap or 100 caps – the same is expected from everyone detail-wise and knowing your role.
“It’s not intimidating as you think, you are prepped very hard during the week, and it pays off when you’re called on.”
Referring to the Aviva Stadium as ‘a cauldron’, Ringrose furter developed his thoughts on playing the Kiwis.
“It was pretty cool occasion to be apart of and it was incredibly physical.
“Playing the best team in the world is always going to be a bit of a step up. Whatever about the physical edge they bring, they are very good skillfully too – so they come at you from all angles.”
It was interesting to note All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen stopping the Leinster centre at the end of the match to congratulate him on his performance.
Asked what was the difference between the Chicago win and the Dublin disappointment, Ringrose commented:
“If we were better in a couple of areas maybe the scoreline could have been different. All credit to them for winning but we’ll take a little bit of confidence from it and try to learn from our errors and shift of focus to next week as soon as possible.”
He added, “We had a couple of entries into their 22 and didn’t quite come away with the points we would have liked.
“We will go back and analyse and see where we can be better. We talked in the changing room after, we can’t sit and be disappointed, we’ve a huge match against Australia here.”
Australia are up next and this is one 21-year-old who is definitely ready.
Aaron Kernan joins Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour to explain the work he’s doing for the Club Players Association. Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue talks Slaughtneil and a Dublin club advertising for hurlers gets a sore touch. Subscribe here on iTunes.
