James Ryan was one of the bright lights in Ireland's bitterly disappointing 24-12 defeat to England in the Six Nations, and the Leinster lock is keeping the faith.
Ireland were swamped early at Twickenham on Sunday, falling 17-0 behind as England's physicality and clever kicking put Andy Farrell's men under the thumb. It was a deficit Ireland found it impossible to recover from.
Second row Ryan admits the Irish players felt the pressure early doors:
"When they get a couple of early scores and you've got to claw your way back into the game, yeah you do feel pressure, it's not easy. They've obviously got a spring in their step, they're confident, they're ahead, so yeah, we did feel a lot of pressure. We put a lot of that pressure on ourselves. As forwards, we probably didn't get the gain line we were looking for. That makes our nine and ten's jobs very hard, when we're getting driven back quite a bit. So, listen, we're well aware of that. We'll take these key measures on board and we'll have to grow from it."
It was Ireland's third defeat to England within the last 12 months, and Ryan was asked if the squad would feel it fair right now for Farrell to bring in new faces, as has been the narrative in many newspaper columns and bar discussions:
"Ultimately, we're picked to go out and do a job for our country and to perform as well as we can. You're just going to focus on getting selected yourself. It's a massive honour and privilege for anybody that comes in, so you are always delighted to see anybody that gets in the team. But I fully believe that we're moving in the right direction. It was a disappointing weekend. Scotland and Wales, we had two good wins there. We're well aware we weren't of that standard last weekend, but we'll review it Wednesday or Thursday."
And James Ryan doesn't think Ireland's style of play needs to be changed in the wake of the loss:
"No, as I said, I think we're moving in the right direction. We just need to get better at what we are doing. When they get a good start like that and we are 14-0 down, it doesn't matter how you are playing. It's a tough situation to get back into. I thought the one positive we can take is that we regrouped better in the second half. We didn't fold. We got two scores, we got a good scrum penalty. We started much better, but by and large, obviously the over-riding feeling is one of proper disappointment."
The Leinster giant still believes Ireland can finish the Six Nations on a high:
"There's still a whole lot to play for in the Championship. For us, I think we need to look at what's immediately in front of us now. It's getting a result, as good a result as we can against the Italians so we go into Paris with a fighting chance. So a big two weeks, a whole lot still to play for. At the same time we are going to take the learning and key messages on board and keep growing."
James Ryan was announced as the 2020 ambassador for Zest Active in Dublin. Zest Active is an everyday nutritional supplement with 25 active ingredients, delivering multiple benefits in one handy powered sachet. It's a product of Irish owned Revive Active.
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