Baird: 'It wasn't frustrating. It was more than that, it was soul-sapping’

IN THE BUILD-UP to Ireland’s opening November game against Argentina, Andy Farrell spoke glowingly about Ryan Baird.

Those comments were put to the Ireland flanker earlier this week, during a media day at the IRFU’s high performance centre in Abbotstown.

“Sure the world is everyone’s oyster, isn’t it?” Baird replied.

He’s got a point, and the view sits nearly in line with much of what Baird says across an engaging chat. The 27-year-old isn’t someone who is content to offer up clichés, instead happy to explain why he loves his job and how he goes about trying to get the most out of himself.

And still, there was truth to Farrell’s words. Baird spent a long time as the coming man in this Ireland squad, but last November was finally making the six shirt his own. Then he broke his leg against South Africa and didn’t play a Test game for almost a year. Heading into the Pumas clash, Farrell felt the time was right to outline just what Baird is capable of, and the Leinster man stepped up and delivered.

“I think he was just being quite kind, you know,” Baird continues.

“I genuinely believe it, the world is everyone’s oyster. Just so happens that someone asked him about me.

“I mean, I’m 27 now, so you learn, you make mistakes, and for me, the big thing is constant curiosity to question things, to get better… and then I’m not talking rugby, I’m talking life here, and that probably has given me some freedom in my headspace.

“Has that given me more of that capacity to be able to play with a bit more freedom? I mean, physically, nothing’s really changed for me in three, four, five years. But yeah, maybe the curiosity, just the evolution of who I am as a person, probably as a by-product, has probably allowed me to be a bit freer on the pitch and I think that’s something that will always be there for everyone.

“I would very much look up to Tadhg Beirne, someone who is very calm, incredibly intelligent individual off the pitch and on the pitch in terms of how he sees the game in the moment under extreme pressure.

“I look at him and he’s like a role model to me, curious to see how is he doing this and how does he get better.”

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We’re on a roll here, Baird warming to the chat and slipping into a self-reflective train of thought.

“I’ve always been curious. Yeah, always been curious. Even my old school reports, they would say I could be a bit chatty at times.

“I ask questions. Sometimes they’re stupid questions, but yeah, it’s interesting just to not like not let life pass you by and ask questions and find the purpose and meaning of things.”

He had plenty of time to reflect over the last year, all starting with that unfortunate leg break against the Boks. At the time, Baird didn’t realise the damage.

“I didn’t know it was broken. It felt like just like a severely dead leg. I just got a bang and I was like, ‘Fuck! This seems like a crazy dead leg’. So I started to play on, and then I went down. I was like, ‘Fuck, it’s real sore’. And the physio came on and he was like, ‘Oh, I think it’s dead’. So they strapped it up. Tadhg Beirne just goes – you’re going to have to blur this one – ‘Get the fuck off the pitch if you can’t run’ because I couldn’t (run).

“I couldn’t walk. But I did a scrum, and then I tried to run around the corner. Then they were bringing on Josh (van der Flier), or Josh was going off for someone else, and I was like, ‘guys, I actually can’t continue’. So they took me off. I got the X-ray in the stadium and actually couldn’t believe it was broken.”

The result of which meant no Six Nations, and no summer tour after a recurrence of the issue later in the season during a Champions Cup quarter-final meeting with Sale. Baird is asked if that made for a ‘frustrating’ year.

“Frustrating. Yeah. Interesting word. It wasn’t frustrating. It was more than that. It was soul-sapping. It was worse than that.

“I came back for those two games, the URC and then into the Heineken Cup quarter. I came back really well. I was really happy with how I was playing. I felt like I kind of just came back to where I was. It was brilliant.

“And then to get that, it just sucked the life out of me, that second injury. The first one, I actually was mentally in a great place coming back. I was like, ‘Here we go, going to finish the season out great, good summer tour’. That one took it out of me. I found that one hard. It took a while to mentally be able to, I don’t know, accept that it had happened because I got the injury, then obviously it was broken, but they were like, ‘Look, we could probably get it back for the summer tour’.

“But then, at that stage, after a few weeks, the plate started to cause bother, and I couldn’t progress to walking or to any form of running. So I kept having these targets, like we’re going to get back for the quarters of the URC. Then we’re going to get back for the pre-camp. Then we’re going to get back for the tour. And then by the end, they’re like, ‘Right, we’re just going to pull the plate out’.

“So I just kept getting the rug pulled out from underneath me, and that kind of just was sapping the life out of me. On the flip side then it gives you that time and the realisation that rugby can be taken away from you quite quickly, and that sense of purpose can… It can make you feel quite alone and quite isolated.

“So it was a great time to really reflect on who I am outside of being a rugby player, and acknowledging that rugby is only one part, and that was a real positive that I took out of the injuries.”

It’s not all soul-searching and self-reflection. One of Baird’s many off-pitch pursuits is cooking, as well as growing/sourcing his own ingredients.

“You looking at my Instagram? Some of them (recipes), half of them, are shite. I’d say I just make them look good.

“You wouldn’t believe how much time rehab takes up and the mental load of being injured. So actually, I realised that you didn’t have as much spare time as you’d like.

“There’s honestly no ulterior motive to it at the moment. It’s just purely pure enjoyment. There’s a nice mackerel fish video going up this afternoon if anyone’s keen.”

Last week was a highly encouraging return to the Ireland picture, Baird busy around the pitch and a nuisance at the lineout. Farrell wants more of the same against Fiji today, Baird keeping his place in the back row as Josh van der Flier comes in at seven and Nick Timoney shifts to number eight.

“The obvious thing was the lineout defence, that went very well. I’m just very proud of how we all came together on that, from Tadhg (Furlong) front-lifting me to Joe (McCarthy) behind me to Bernie to Ports, to everyone else involved. We just saw it as a good opportunity for the week and just for everyone to execute their job. And then I was fortunate enough to get the adrenaline of hitting, pinching a few myself. It was great.

“Then aside from that, I was very proud of myself because, I don’t know, it was my first time back playing for Ireland in like 11 months so I was quite anxious, being honest. But I did a great job throughout the game of separating myself from those thoughts and being able to bring myself back to reality, which was the moment that was in front of my face or the next play or whatever. I was able to still execute and enjoy being there.

“There’s always going to be areas you want to improve and areas you want to get better on, but on an overall perspective, just very proud of myself. I’m very proud of the boys around me for how we disrupted them.”