Garry Ringrose happy to listen, learn and bide his time

Garry Ringrose refuses to be distracted by the avalanche of words, written and spoken and hugely complimentary in tone, that has engulfed his fledgling professional rugby career.

The 21-year-old is mature in outlook and singular in focus, preferring to devote his energies to more tangible goals, such as becoming the best player he can be. He’s happy to listen, learn and bide his time.

Brian O’Driscoll has led a pretty impressive list of advocates calling for him to be capped at Test level but he’s content for the time being to keep polishing the fundamental qualities of his game and working hard to improve other aspects.

He's not oblivious to the hype but speaking at the launch of the 2016 Bank of Ireland Leinster School of Excellence, rugby camps for boys and girls from ages 12 to 17, he smiles: "I suppose it's pretty cool.

Senior players

“I think my grandparents get a bit more enjoyment out of it than I do. I just focus on, as much as possible, the opinions of coaches and senior players at Leinster and try to keep the feet to the ground, not look too far ahead, just focus on each week and each game.”

It's an attitude that's stood him in good stead to date and it's not as if he's short of feedback at provincial or national level. Joe Schmidt spoke to him in time spent with the Ireland squad during the recent Six Nations.

“He would have encouraged me to relish any opportunity I get with Leinster and he’s very supportive of certain areas that needed improving. He would have coached a lot of the players at Leinster and the coaches there he would have close contact with, so he said to use them as tools to improve as much as possible.”

Five months ago he admits that he wouldn’t have imagined having played 17 times so far for Leinster this season but going into Saturday’s Pro12 game against Munster at the Aviva Stadium, that’s where he’s at; a journey in rugby terms that’s been educational and not without the odd speed bump.

Stepping up from under-20 level to professional rugby required an acclimatisation period but he isn’t preoccupied by physical development as much as evolving the skills that made him such an outstanding underage international. He’s also learnt by osmosis, from the training environment, to measuring himself against other centres.

“Regan King was one player who I learnt a few harsh lessons off at the start. He’s an incredibly talented centre and has a lot of experience.

“The likes of Jonathan Joseph for Bath, seeing how well he’s performing for England, it was a great experience to play against himself and [Kyle] Eastmond; and then Bundee Aki, Peter Robb and Robbie [Henshaw], I try to build and learn as much as possible from playing against players like that: [Bundee’s] an incredibly competitive player and a nightmare to play against.”

Third party

All advice is gratefully received and while there has been no direct contact with O’Driscoll, it may have come potentially through a third party.

“Gordon D’Arcy, I got the tail end of his [final] year when I was in the first year of the academy, and he would have been very helpful in helping me on defensive areas I needed to correct.

“There would have been messages passed on from Girvan Dempsey when he was the academy manager that he might have got off Brian [O’Driscoll] on areas to work on, so it’s been that and [advice from] senior players. I’ve picked up a good bit off Ben Te’o as well, because defensively he’s rock solid and playing with him has been pretty cool.”

For a little confidence fillip he may draw upon his elegant performance in helping Leinster to victory over Munster at Thomond Park earlier in the season but he fully appreciates the benchmarking process never stands still.

Commodity

On Saturday he’ll play before the biggest crowd of his career and not only appreciates the nature of the sibling rivalry between the provinces but perhaps the contest’s most precious commodity – league points that will nudge the winner closer to a playoff place.

He concedes that any enjoyment of the occasion will be retrospective and coloured by the result.

He wouldn’t mind emulating the impact the Chiefs’ Damien McKenzie has had in Super Rugby, someone that Ringrose played against at underage level. “It’s pretty enjoyable watching how he has set Super Rugby alight.”

Ringrose has not been too shabby in that regard in the Pro12 this season; Saturday evening represents an opportunity to further endorse that sentiment.