Joe Schmidt has singled out second-row James Ryan for an immense performance following Ireland’s 28-8 win over Scotland on Saturday.
Ryan led the way for Ireland in the forwards with a team-high 15 carries and 13 tackles as Ireland once again dominated the ball with 62% possession and a whopping 601 metres on the ground.
Ryan was the first player Schmidt mentioned when asked who had impressed him in the win, and unsurprisingly, Schmidt already knew the full extent of the amount of work he got through.
“There were a couple of players who worked incredibly hard,” said Schmidt.
“James Ryan was immense again. I think he had 13 tackles and 13 ball carries (15 according to ESPNscrum). CJ Stander had 12 tackles and 12 ball carries, Garry Ringrose had 90 running metres and 11 tackles; covered the ground incredibly well for a guy that’s probably not up to full fitness yet. But I thought he was super.”
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Neither Joe Schmidt, Rory Best, CJ Stander and Dan Leavy would get too carried away with talk of a Grand Slam, despite Ireland now being just one win away from repeating the heroics of 2009, but Leavy did shed some light on the mood of the Irish dressing room following another comprehensive victory.
“James Ryan – cheese – has got the tunes playing which is always good. U2 was on for a bit, a bit of Daft Punk, we were enjoying ourselves.
“He calls himself the big cheese. He’s also our resident DJ so he’s doing well. He’s playing a lot of older stuff for a young guy. It’s weird.
“I think that’s his dad’s influence on him but he loves rap. I don’t know, he’s got an eclectic mix of tunes.”
Schmidt confirmed there were no injuries to the Ireland squad but that there were a number of players who were carrying a variety of knocks and niggles.
