Listen to the full interview via the podcast.
It was probably the best reintroduction that Donnacha Ryan could have hoped for.
After an eight week absence, the Munster lock returned to the field in the crucial Heineken Cup win over Perpignan in France, with a last minute try from JJ Hanrahan clinching a dramatic one point triumph when defeat seemed certain.
Ryan admitted that he was running on adrenalin during the match when he spoke to Joe on Off The Ball tonight.
"I felt good. It was kind of a stop-start first half so I was trying to get into the game. I hadn't played in a while obviously and actually hadn't hit many scrums either. But I was running more on adrenalin and I was so happy to be back," said the 30-year-old.
Ryan credited his team-mates' belief for turning the game around at the death.
"It looked pretty bleak. But the guys showed great patience not to panic. I think the defence for their try was a bit annoying from Denis [Hurley] and the backline's point of view. But then for Denis to pull out a fantastic pass for Tommy before [Hanrahan's try] showed fantastic character and that's thinking about the next play. At the same token, we shouldn't have found ourselves in that area to be honest because we were quite dominant up front. But it's fantastic to win ugly and score like that under pressure."
Munster's Donnacha Ryan is injured against Glouscester in October ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Ryan, who admitted that the Munster dressing room has changed an "awful lot" without the likes of Ronan O'Gara, Alan Quinlan and David Wallace, has extended his near-decade long stay at Munster with a new three-year deal set to run until 2017.
"I'll be 33 when I finish this contract and anything else after that, to my mind, is a bonus," said Ryan of his decision to extend his time with the province.
It gives the UCC graduate the opportunity to experience Munster's evolution in style - something which has come under greater scrutiny with criticism over lateral passing.
But Ryan is backing Rob Penney's plan to create a more expansive game-plan which differs markedly from Munster's traditional setup.
"I don't know if you've ever read the book The Art of War by Sun Tzu but it says that if you stretch the defence, there's a lot more opportunities to puncture holes. With water for instance, it's the way attack probably flows. It's a lot easier to penetrate water through holes whereas if you decide to be narrow all the time, a lot of defenders are closed up and it's hard for water to flow through. If you pull width in attack, defenders have to mark you and you create one on one scenarios."
Listen to the full interview via the podcast.
Main image by ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
