Six Nations: James Ryan warming to role as Johnny Sexton’s heir apparent

This time it feels a little different.

James Ryan has captained Ireland on six occasions previously but, compared to when he was first thrust into the role, he is now a couple of years older and a couple of years wiser.

And more than ever before, his promotion to the captaincy for Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations game against Italy in the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday (kick-off 3.15 local time/2.15pm Irish) feels like a clear glimpse into the post-Johnny Sexton future.

Ryan’s career trajectory – captaincy from St Michael’s Junior Cup team all the way up through to Ireland Under-20s and a Test debut before his 21st birthday – has always meant he was destined to be an FIC (future Irish captain).

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But perhaps destiny called him too soon when he led Ireland against England at an empty Twickenham in those grim days of the Autumn Nations Cup when he was just 24, even if he had 29 caps under his belt.

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He has led Ireland on five subsequent occasions; a week later against Georgia, in the July Tests of 2021 against Japan and the USA when restricted crowds of 3,000 were admitted, in the 53-7 win over Argentina in front of an Aviva full house the following November and, most recently, in the Six Nations defeat at a raucous Stade de France just over a year ago.

“It was definitely a good experience,” Ryan recalled yesterday of that first game as Irish captain, “and I’m glad I had those experiences as well because it’s not as alien, for want of a better word, for me this week because I’ve done it before. I understand how the week works and that’s important.

“Maybe I’m a bit better prepared now than I would have been a few years ago. But I never expected to be named captain as well. It still comes as a surprise to me. I’m a bit more experienced now than I was a few years ago. And I think being around someone like Johnny and different guys like that, longer now than I would have been, gives you more opportunities to learn. So yeah, feeling good going into it.”

Although he’d be loath to say it himself, judging by his CV, Ryan is clearly one of those natural born leaders. But whatever about captaining schools or under-age sides, assuming the role for one’s country at 24 is a different matter and perhaps weighed a little heavily on his shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah, I enjoy it. I enjoy it because it’s such an honour,” he said yesterday before, interestingly, he added: “but it’s just making sure that it doesn’t become a weight for me, just making sure that I’m focused on myself as well.”

Ensuring the captaincy does not, as he put it, affect the level of own performance, is key, and he denied that the role affected his performance previously.

Of late, he has clearly become a more vocal and influential vice-captain, as evidenced by Sexton publicly hailing some of Ryan’s on-field calls in either going for touch or the posts.

In any event, now 26, Ryan reached a significant milestone last time out in the titanic win over France when reaching his 50th cap, and he also assumed the captaincy for the endgame.

It’s hard to quantify but he just seems more at ease in the role, and in the same way that Sexton leant on his lieutenants, Ryan will do likewise.

“Yeah, I’ll lean on Ross [Byrne] and obviously the number 10 is a key part of the decision-making process, and the other secondrow, the lineout caller [Iain Henderson], the three of us will be making decisions very much together. And we’ll go from there,” said Ryan.

Part of a captain’s role in a Test week is to face the media, and one imagines he probably doesn’t bounce out of bed on a Wednesday morning thinking: ‘Yippee, it’s media day!’ What player does? But beyond that, he says his week doesn’t change unduly.

“There’s probably a little bit more responsibility. I need to say a few words on Friday and Saturday before the game, so maybe at the tail end of the week there’s a little bit more to get across.

“To be honest it doesn’t change a massive amount and that kind of ties into what I was saying earlier. I need to get my own game right so making sure I’m focused on getting that part of the game right and maybe have a little bit more to do at the end of the week But certainly earlier in the week, there’s so many guys here that you can lean on. As I said Hendy, Garry [Ringrose], Peter O’Mahony, Johnny is around, so there’s plenty of voices there.”

Interestingly too, the Leinster brains trust generally hand the captain’s armband to Ringrose when Sexton is not in the team, whereas Andy Farrell and his assistant coaches have tended to turn to Ryan.

It remains to be seen whether the choice of Ryan as captain signals that O’Mahony will not be starting against Italy. In any case, while this week is a case of needs must, and all roads ultimately lead to the World Cup in France later this year, Farrell is already on board for another two years.

And it seems now clearer than ever that, both in the immediate future and in the longer term, the head coach sees Ryan as Sexton’s eventual heir apparent.