Ireland second-row James Ryan is quickly becoming one of the very best locks in the world and he only just cleared his 10th appearance in international rugby last weekend.
The 21-year-old suffered his first loss in professional rugby in Ireland’s summer series opener against Australia earlier this month but he was one of Ireland’s best on the day in Brisbane and he backed that performance up again on Saturday with another strong performance in Ireland’s win over the Wallabies.
Ryan had 12 carries (second to only Garry Ringrose) and 11 tackles (second to only CJ Stander) as he grows increasingly comfortable with the intensity and physicality of Test rugby.
Former Leinster captain Kevin McLaughlin said it’s not too early to talk about him as one of the best second-rows in the world and that his ability to accelerate onto the ball is what really impresses from his game.
“James Ryan is quickly becoming one of the best second-rows in the world,” McLaughlin said on the latest episode of The Hard Yards.
“It’s not early. The way he delivers every single week, it’s not early. He’s one of those players where you’re like ‘Jesus, who is that?’ And it’s James Ryan again.
Full conversation from the 30:00 mark.
“He’s making tackles, he’s making turnovers and his ability to, and it’s something that’s actually really hard to do, is he accelerates onto the ball.
“He seems to be able to do it on every single carry and his body position as well [is great]. He’s 6 ft 8 and it’s very hard for someone who is 6 ft 8 to get the right body position in the contact but he dominates the contact. It’s ridiculous.”
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said earlier this season that it was important for Ryan to continue to learn in high pressure situations and that his decision making should continue to improve with the more experience he gains.
“All you can do is try to best prepare them for what is coming up,” said Schmidt.
“His size is what it is, you can’t really accelerate that without I suppose putting too much stress on him.
“But I think when you get put in pressure situations what you learn from that allows you, potentially, accelerate your understanding of the game, your understanding of pressure moments in the game and where your decision-making is crucial.
“The quicker you can make those decisions, the more instinctive those decisions are based on that previous experience.”
