Ireland lock James Ryan says they won’t be taking the challenge posed by Italy lightly when the two teams do battle in Round 4 of the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday.
Franco Smith’s side are currently bottom of the standings after their three matches in this year’s Championship, having lost to Wales, France and Scotland back in February, but will be rejuvenated ahead of the restart at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland will be looking to go top of the table with a bonus-point win in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, which would leave them within touching distance of a second Championship victory in three years.
But Ryan knows that his side can’t let their guard down and will have to hit the ground running to deal with the Azzurri threat.
“We’re expecting Italy to play with real intent, certainly with the ball in hand. They’ve made the most passes so far in the Championship,” the 24-year-old said.
“They’re playing with more width, they’re playing with real tempo. We’re expecting, certainly, their attack to be quite strong. It has been a big focus for us this week, defensively.
“I think when you start talking about bonus points amongst the team in a lead up to a Test match, you’re not in a great place. You’ve got to respect the opposition and see what happens from there.
“Certainly the better we can be at being able to turn the page and move on to the next job, as individuals and as a team, after an error or after we concede, the better. That’s always a part of our game that we’re looking to get better at.”
Ryan has been an ever present for Andy Farrell’s side in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations to date, playing every minute of the first three rounds earlier in the year.
A shoulder injury while training with Leinster in June looked to have ruled him out of the rest of the 2019-20 campaign, but the Dublin-born star put in a typical hearty performance on his return to action in September, as Leinster won their third-straight Guinness PRO14 title with a 27-5 victory over Ulster.
And despite the initial prognosis, Ryan was always sure he would be able to put on the green jersey of his country when the Guinness Six Nations returned.
“Firstly, I was in very good hands. I was pretty confident that we could get a pretty good timeline recovery-wise. Very lucky that the guys in Leinster, the medical staff, the strength and conditioning staff, are world class really,” he said.
“Same here (with Ireland), but I had access to top-class rehab coaches. They’re the kind of things that help those turnarounds go from 12 weeks to nine, 10 weeks. I was pretty confident from the start.”
