What James Ryan made of forming a Lions bond with Northampton players so soon after Leinster’s shattering loss
Ireland and Leinster's James Ryan
James Ryan has revealed what it was like walking into the first British and Irish Lions gathering last Sunday in London and encountering the Northampton contingent who had upset Leinster a few weeks earlier in the Investec Champions Cup.
The Saints caused a shock when beating the Irish province 37-34 in the semi-finals on May 3.
Leinster have since had 12 players – including Ryan, who missed the Aviva Stadium match through injury – named by Andy Farrell in the Lions squad for the upcoming tour to Australia.
Four Northampton players – Tommy Freeman, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and Henry Pollock – were also included by Farrell and ahead of next Saturday’s Champions Cup final in Cardiff, all 38 members of the 2025 Lions gathered in London for a two-day admin session ahead of the Australian trip.
That meant that the dominant Leinster contingent had to forget the hurt of their European elimination and buddy up with their rivals – including the Saints. It was something that Ryan insisted was not a problem.
Appearing on Ireland AM on Wednesday, the Irish breakfast TV show on Virgin Media One, the Ireland lock was asked what it was like meeting up with rival players and quickly having to form bonds.
‘You literally can’t waste a day…’
“It was fine,” he replied. “They seem like good lads. We are all professional now, we have got to build a team together pretty quickly.
“The good thing about this is you have to leave those rivalries at the door and build that cohesion. Ten games in the space of five weeks, you literally can’t waste a day so you have to leave that stuff behind and get to know the lads quickly.
“It is weird [to build a team from four countries] but we were able to have a beer together Sunday evening and sort of get to know some of the new guys. They were sound.
“That’s what is special about the Lions, it is so different to everything else you do in rugby. You get guys from all four countries, you put them together and you have got to learn to be a team very quickly, so it’s exciting.”
Quizzed on how Leinster picked up the pieces following the loss to Northampton which denied them a fourth successive Champions Cup final appearance, Ryan said: “We were incredibly disappointed. We came in on the Monday and had a very honest review for two, three hours.
“As players, we have put our hand up, we know we weren’t good enough. Northampton were the better team on the day 100 per cent… They certainly started the game much quicker and we know in knockout rugby you have to come out of the blocks quickly.
“We have tried to put it behind us and what I can say is the group is as hungry as ever now with the next few weeks in mind, we have got Scarlets in the (URC) quarter-finals on Saturday week and we’re not looking beyond that at all. We know we have got to be at our best.
“Stuart Lancaster used to use this term, SUMO, ‘shut up and move on’. So you come in after the weekend, it doesn’t matter how the game went, you’d review it honestly and be open to things but it would get to a point where you need to SUMO things and move on.
“Look, we are at the cutting edge of rugby and games at this time of the year mean a lot more and that goes both ways. It is what it is. We were very disappointed, we have just got to move on now.”
