It's 21-0 as a professional for James Ryan, with Leinster's 15-12 Champions Cup victory over Racing 92 at the weekend continuing the 21-year-old's unbeaten streak in the sport.
The lock has been in incredible form since bursting into the Leinster side this year, and has already added a 6 Nations Grand Slam to his trophy cabinet as well as that European club medal, and is two games in the Pro14 away from completing a seasonal sweep across international and provincial level.
Joining OTB AM this morning was former Munster and Ireland winger Quinlan, who is as impressed by the unbeaten streak as he is by the level of performance Ryan is turning out week after week with no let-up, something he doesn't expect to change.
"It's unbelievable, it's just phenomenal. I'm very envious, like any sportsperson would be. He's a very humble fella, and down to earth, and you just sense that's he's not going to get too excited and get blasé and get ahead of himself here and think 'this is easy, it's always going to be like this'. You sense that he's a fella who just prepares well, keeps his feet in the ground, and he's very lucky to come into an environment like that.
Quinlan compared Ryan's incredible career start to that of his own, with Quinlan having had success with club side Shannon in his early days, and warned Ryan against believing that such success would always be forthcoming.
"I joined Shannon in 1996 and we won four All-ireland Leagues on the trot which was massive back then and I thought 'Jesus, this is so easy, it's great'. It's a totally different scenario but the same kind of mentality, do you let yourself run away with yourself? But I think it's phenomenal, to achieve what he's already achieved".
"His consistency of performance is just out of this world. He just tackles, carries, and has that little bit of footwork and intelligence as well. Intelligence is a really important part of it, because he can see defenders in front of him and can shift his body, move into that little bit of space to get the head through, and the ball is recycled quicker. Then his work-rate in the tackle...he's bouncing up off the ground, so it's incredible".
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