James Ryan wasn’t hanging around. Wales, in Cardiff, were only 140 hours away and the clock was ticking.
We are closing in on two hours since Ireland beat France 26-14 to keep their Guinness Six Nations hopes alive.
Jacques Brunel and Guilhelm Guirado have been in for a pretty sombre chat and, minutes before, Joe Schmidt and Rory Best wrapped up. Best confirmed he won’t be back here for more Six Nations fun but he should get another send-off before the World Cup.
We are milling about the unused dressing room that is often used as a ‘mixed zone’ for post-match interviews. Jack Conan has just been and gone and CJ Stander is heading off after speaking to the print media.
It takes a while but the IRFU eventually get man-of-the-match James Ryan and fullback Jordan Larmour into the room to share their thoughts. A set of microphones and recorders are placed in the vicinity of the imposing Leinster lock and away we go.
2 minutes and 53 seconds later and we’re done. Ryan has done his duty and, as quick as he’d clear out a ruck and spring to his feet, he is out the gap.
This man has places to be. Wales are up next, in 140 hours, and each minute he spends nattering to us is a minute he could be using better. In, out. You’ve got to admire it.
Here is the whole of Ryan’s mixed zone chat.
Good to be back out there?
We loved it, it was great to be back at home, obviously we were on the road for a bit. The support was great and it was great to be back in the Aviva .
Was build-up any different?
No, the build-up was the same as it is every week. We reviewed our last game and looked at things we can be better at and then we previewed the opposition.
How can Ireland counter Wales’ momentum?
I’m sure they do [have momentum]. What can we do to counteract it? I think we can control what is in front of us this week. Recovery is massive for us with the six-day turnaround. There’s plenty of guys in the ice bath already and I think the next 24 hours are really important in that regards. From there we’ll hit the ground running on Tuesday and work on a few things that we could have been better at there and hopefully bring that to Cardiff.
Ideal start for Ireland today?
Yeah, we spoke this week about being Besty’s last home game in the Six Nations so I think you could see out there what that meant to him so it was great.
Happy with how the lineout went?
The lineout went well, Hendy did a great job calling and our process and fundamentals were all there so we’re happy with that.
Regrets about last five minutes, take gloss off?
Maybe it did a bit, We took our foot off the pedal slightly but all in all we can’t be too hard on ourselves. We played quite well there for large parts and really stood up.
Did you see the Wales game?
Yeah, I had a look. They are a quality outfit. They’ve really shown that so far in the championship they’ll be all guns blazing next week.
Wales will surely be fully focused on Saturday?
Definitely, you only have to watch Wales when they are singing the national anthem in the Millennium Stadium how much it means to them. They’ll definitely be raring to go.
299 words. Not exactly the most stirring of all post-match interviews, but who cares?
Most Irish supporters would be perfectly content if, like against France, he does his talking out on that Principality Stadium pitch next week.
138 hours now… and counting.
