‘My Dad advised me to have a backup plan. I haven’t needed it, yet’

Sponsored

Sponsored content is premium paid-for content produced by the Irish Times Content Studio on behalf of commercial clients. The Irish Times newsroom or other editorial departments are not involved in the production of sponsored content.

At 30, the Leinster and Ireland rugby player James Ryan has already enjoyed a stellar career. It’s about constant reinvention, he says, in episode four of Detours with Craig Doyle

James Ryan’s earliest memory is wanting to play for Ireland. “I must have been only four or five years old,” the Leinster and Ireland rugby star recalls. “It was my ambition from a very young age. International rugby was always the dream.”

The 30-year-old, who has made more than 100 appearances for Leinster and more than 80 for Ireland, grew up in the Dublin suburb of Booterstown, where he spent much of his childhood outdoors playing all kinds of sport with his twin brother, Mark, and younger brother David. His older sister Katie, meanwhile, loved horses, and could indulge her passion during happy summers the Ryan family spent in the west of Ireland.

For Ryan, the concept of a detour looked different from how it might for most people his age. Where friends in their late teens and early 20s were free to go travelling, heading to the UK or Australia for a working stint, interrailing around Europe, or simply enjoying nights out, he went without those experiences.

“I had to really focus on my sport,” he explains. “My detour was to stay on task.” Committing to his chosen path meant giving up the adventures most young people take for granted, but it was a sacrifice he was content to make.

His single-mindedness paid off. Ryan captained the Ireland U20 team at the 2016 World Rugby U20 Championship – beating New Zealand for the first time and finishing runners-up – before progressing through Lansdowne FC, Leinster and Ireland. His journey might look like a direct and obstacle-free route to the top, but the elite athlete admits the path was less straightforward than it appeared. “There have never been big, dramatic moments,” he explains, “but my career has been full of ups and downs and little setbacks.”

Ryan believes that rugby mirrors life in many ways. “One week everything is great and then the next week it’s not. I’ve had injuries, I’ve missed out on selection. They’re all setbacks, but it comes down to your perspective and your mindset; are you going to take a setback lying down or are you going to use it to make you better and reinvent yourself?” He believes the hurdles he’s faced have shaped his career for the better. “Setbacks and detours force you to bring your game to another level,” he says.

The sometime Ireland captain attributes this positive mental attitude in part to the way the Leinster and Ireland teams are managed. “These are very open and honest environments,” he says. “Feedback is never delayed or avoided; you always know exactly where you stand because everyone is aligned around getting better and chasing our potential.”

This positivity didn’t begin at Leinster but at home. Ryan’s dad, Mark, a former rugby player himself, has been hugely influential on his son. He captained Lansdowne FC in 1986 when the team swept the boards. “He played for Leinster as well, although the game wasn’t professional then,” Ryan explains. “Being at Lansdowne Football Club, looking at pictures of him and his name on the wall of fame – that’s pretty cool.” For Ryan, it’s a full-circle moment, walking the same halls as his father, four decades on.

Despite this family heritage and generational love for the game, Ryan’s father advised him to “have something to fall back on”. So, alongside going professional, Ryan pursued a degree in history and politics at University College Dublin.

“My dad gave me really good advice,” he says. “He told me to study something I found interesting, otherwise it would just become a chore.” The Ryan family history sparked that interest: James’s great-grandfather and namesake was a doctor, revolutionary and government minister who played a prominent role in the Easter 1916 Rising and in the War of Independence.

Ryan doesn’t put his career down to hard work and planning alone. His brother shared the same love of rugby, but injuries got in the way and it was never to be. Ryan, by contrast, came through his teenage years relatively unscathed. “There’s a little bit of luck involved,” he says. “My brother loved rugby, but he was absolutely tormented with injuries all throughout school. Moving through my teens and into my 20s, I’d say I was fairly lucky when it came to injuries.”

Ryan’s willingness to take risks is another factor in his success. “I think if you want to do great things, certainly in my sport, you’ve got to be ready to take risks. You can’t be conservative. You’ve got to go out and attack,” he says. He takes the same approach outside of sport. “Things don’t happen because you wish them to; you have to make them happen. That’s the way it is,” he says.

This mindset is now shaping how he thinks about life after sport. With most professional rugby players retiring in their early 30s, Ryan is turning his mind to what comes next. He has invested in Dash Burger, an independent smash burger restaurant with venues on Dublin’s Capel Street and Kevin Street, and another on the way, and Ryan sees a future for himself in hospitality. “It can be a risky space, particularly over the past few years with the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, but the reason I went ahead was because I believed in the product.”

His personal life is moving forward too. Ryan met girlfriend Sarah Cannon in 2018 and they became engaged last year, with a plan to marry in 2027. He describes her as “an unbelievable partner” and “very kind and supportive in everything she does”. For Ryan, family is the biggest motivator of all. “There’s a lot that comes with being an athlete at this level but if I’m honest, the biggest driver for me is my family and my friends,” he says. It’s not the personal accolades that mean the most to him, but the effect his success has on the people closest to him. “What I get the biggest buzz out of is how the big days make my family and friends feel. That’s the best part of it all, if I’m honest.”

James Ryan and Craig Doyle visited Lansdowne Football Club in the fully electric Volvo ES90 sedan. Freedom to Move. Electric. Find out more at volvocars.com

Fri Oct 30 2026 - 05:00

IN THIS SECTION