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Ireland fans have their say on Ryan becoming captain vs England and it doesn't reflect well on Sexton
The time for James Ryan to permanently assume the captaincy of Ireland has come in the eyes of the public. This has been the general response since it was announced on Tuesday that the lock will lead his country against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
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His chance in the Autumn Nations Cup comes in the absence of the injured Jonathan Sexton. The fly-half succumbed to a hamstring injury in the victory over Wales in Dublin on Friday, meaning the 24-year-old will now lead his country for the first time.
The 35-year-old Sexton took over from Rory Best at the end of the World Cup last year, but Ryan has always been viewed as the long-term Ireland captaincy option. The lock has been his country’s best performer for the past two years now and has been operating at a world-class level.
Now that the Leinster forward has been named captain by head coach Andy Farrell, the overwhelming view online is that this must become a permanent fixture.
This is not only the natural decision to make given the way Ryan already leads from the front, but this would also relieve Sexton of the burden he has been carrying as captain throughout 2020.
With Sexton injured, Ireland have a new captain to face England https://t.co/JcUZAnf5Mo
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 17, 2020
There is a case that his game in green has dropped since succeeding Best, while he also created controversy for his reaction towards the coaches box when replaced during Ireland’s Six Nations loss last month to France. He apologised to Farrell but his reputation was damaged with ex-Ireland skippers Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Wood criticising his behaviour.
The hope would be may that Sexton might be able to conjure his best form when he returns from injury should this appointment of Ryan be a permanent one.
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There are of course members of the squad with more experience both in the Test arena and as captains, notably Peter O’Mahony who skippered the 2017 Lions in their first Test, but with an eye on the 2023 World Cup, the consensus is that there is no one better suited for this role than Ryan.
Saturday will be a baptism of fire for the second row, with Ireland hoping to arrest a three-match losing streak against England and take control of their Nations Cup group.
Time for this to be made permanent and leave Jonny heal and then play out what is left of his Ireland career
— CompuWhizz (@AskCompuWhizz) November 17, 2020
Has been captain in waiting since captaining the U20’s to the world cup U20 final after beating the baby blacks
— Adrian Cox?? (@kensafs) November 17, 2020
Personally think we should have him as captain from now on. Congrats James
— MH (@hean_bean) November 17, 2020
Brilliant. The time has come.
— TMcB (@lilirishtravels) November 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/monkeysocks36/status/1328714031042093058?s=21
https://twitter.com/leebicker/status/1328706946585735169?s=21
James Ryan is a good call for Irish captain. He has been tipped as a future captain for a while now so makes sense to get him as many games as possible under his belt.
— Master Of None Podcast (@MasterOfNonePod) November 17, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments