When James Ryan closed his eyes and thought of the summer of 2021 he wasn’t dreaming about leading Ireland against Japan and the United States.

Fate, in the form of Warren Gatland, has dealt the Leinster second-row a different hand than what he might have envisaged and Andy Farrell has wrapped a proverbial arm around him as he looks to channel the young man’s disappointment into positivity for Ireland.

Ryan’s omission from the Lions squad that gathered in Jersey yesterday came as a shock to many including the national team coach who said he rates him as “world class” yesterday.

As the lock has plenty of miles on his clock, and was forced to sit out a chunk of the season due to repeated head knocks, there is a suspicion that missing the tour may serve to enhance his Ireland impact.

And, with Johnny Sexton given the summer off, he’s been handed the captaincy for the Aviva Stadium matches next month.

“James knows that there’s room to improve his game and one of those is his leadership role,” Farrell said of the man he named stand-in captain last autumn while Sexton was out.

“He has come on leaps and bounds and we’ve invested a couple of times with James in that role.

“He’ll have learned some lessons from that and he’ll be looking forward to what’s ahead of him.

“I think his form since not getting selected for the Lions has been outstanding, actually.

“Some of his attack work has been top-class, his lineout-calling has really come on so he’s taking responsibility,” added Farrell.

“There’ll be other guys that will be in that leadership group, which has yet to be decided that will step up and help James become a better captain also.”

With the seven Lions off in South Africa and three senior men including Sexton rested and CJ Stander now retired, Farrell is looking at new leaders coming to the fore. Peter O’Mahony is an obvious contender to fill the void, while Garry Ringrose is a quietly impressive leader who has captained Leinster on a number of occasions.

With so many frontliners away, the head coach wants others to step up.

Hugo Keenan has been an impressive figure at full-back, Caelan Doris is another with the credentials despite his youth. Joey Carbery will be asked to marshal the backs.

“The leaders that are already there, they’re not going to stop leading.

“So we hope to grow as a group but there’ll be new guys that will come into that environment that we’ll sit down and decide in the coming weeks who those guys are.

“The guys who are on 10, 11, 12 caps, who have had a bit of a taste of getting themselves into the squad on a consistent basis, can they take their leadership game to another level as well?

“We blooded quite a few new players over the last 18 months and some of those guys, like Hugo Keenan, he’s had an unbelievable season but he’s very young as far as international experience is concerned.

“Even Jamison Gibson-Park, like I mentioned before, he’s very young as far as international rugby is concerned.

“So it’s growing their belief at this level. Even Caelan Doris, growing their belief at this level is vital for them as well.”

After a strange, intense period in charge Farrell will welcome the prospect of playing in front of fans again at the Aviva Stadium and he’ll also welcome the idea of two games where the pressure is off to a degree.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity to have a look. We don’t get many opportunities to be able to do that,” he said.

“Once we get into the Six Nations, we’re full steam ahead next year, aren’t we? So this is the only chance really.

“This is the only opportunity that we get to have a look and of course it’s not going to be all singing, all dancing.

“People will have to learn from their mistakes but they have to be given the opportunity in the first place and, yeah, we might as well take that while we can.

“Hopefully we get to meet up as a squad at the start of next season with 50/60 lads that all competing hard to be involved in what’s going to be a massive year.”

IRELAND SQUAD FOR THE
SUMMER INTERNATIONALS

Backs (17)

Back-three: Will Addison, Robert Balacoune, Andrew Conway, Shane Daly, Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Jacob Stockdale.

Centres: Tom Daly, Chris Farrell, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey

Out-halves: Billy Burns, Harry Byrne, Joey Carbery.

Scrum-halves: Caolin Blade, Craig Casey, Jamison Gibson-Park.

Forwards (20)

Props: Finlay Bealham, Ed Byrne, Peter Dooley, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O’Toole, John Ryan.

Hookers: Dave Heffernan, Rob Herring, Rónan Kelleher.

Second-rows: Ryan Baird, Ultan Dillane, Ross Molony, James Ryan (capt), Fineen Wycherley.

Back-rows: Paul Boyle, Gavin Coombes, Caelan Doris, Peter O’Mahony, Nick Timoney, Josh van der Flier.

Welcome back: Will Addison and Joey Carbery return to the set-up having not played for Ireland since 2019.

New faces: Andy Farrell has called up 11 uncapped players; Robert Balacoune. Caolin Blade, Tom O’Toole, Fineen Wycherley, Harry Byrne and Gavin Coombes have been in the set-up before, while Paul Boyle, Tom Daly, Nick Timoney, Peter Dooley and Ross Molony are in for the first time.

Unlucky lads: Luke McGrath remains exiled, Ross Byrne is leapfrogged by his younger brother while Ulster’s James Hume and Leinster back-rows Scott Penny and Josh Murphy must have been close.

Ireland Summer Test Fixtures

July 3: Ireland v Japan, Aviva Stadium, 1.0; Live, RTÉ & Channel 4.

July 10: Ireland v USA, 7.15, Live, RTÉ & Channel 4.