Leinster Rugby v Dragons

he will have left on the young crop of
props in particular.
Ryan isn’t of a mind to disagree with
either evaluation.
“I think you know you have a pretty
special player when they add as much
value off the pitch as they do on it and
that’s the way Fards is. He’s such a big
character around the place and that
again is one of the worst things about
being a pro.
“What is he? 36? Going on 37? And yet
I’d consider him a mate and that’s again
what’s so special about Fards.
“Culturally he gets it and he did from
day one. Regardless of your place here,
young or old, you could be new into
the Academy, or a member of staff, or
having played hundreds of times, he
treats everyone the same. It’s a great trait
to have.
“Fards has just had such an influence
on all of us in here, and on my career
as well. So it is gutting to lose people
like that but it’s why it is such a driver for
us this week to give them that send-off
in front of the 1,200 supporters we will
have at the RDS on Friday.”
What is it about the former Australian
forward that makes him stand out from
the rest though?
“One thing I like about him is that he is
quite old school.
“The modern game is really detail
orientated and patterns, calls, plays and
it has to be like that, of course, but there
is also another element to the game and
he had this ability to just strip all that
back and just narrow the focus for us as
a group.
“That might sound quite basic but it’s then
how you do it. And when. You do it with
your actions, yes, but Fards also had the
ability to choose his moments and his
words and you listen.
“So he’d say, ‘Look you know all of
that, all of the detail, but now let’s focus
on this, let’s get aggressive, let’s get
physical’ or whatever, so his messaging
was always good but his emotional
intelligence too.
“Knew when the group needed a kick
up the ass, or when maybe the group
or individual needed a lift, or a lighter
moment.
“That leadership piece just came naturally
to him and the rest of us just tried to learn
as much as we could from him and how
he went about his business.”
Of course, Ryan owes his European
debut to Fardy, or should that be the
Fardys!
On the morning of the Montpellier match
in the RDS Arena in 2017, Penelope
Fardy went into labour and later that day
August Fardy was born.
But with Fardy ruled out, Ryan went from
travelling extra, to starting lock.
“He actually reminded me about that
for a good two to three years after that
game! He enjoyed that. His role in my
debut. Where would I be without him?
“But yeah, massive game for me at the
time and all I had to eat before that game
was some porridge because I went from
24th man to starting in Europe for the first
time. I didn’t have time to prep maybe
as I would now and there was definitely
a bit of panic that morning when Leo
told me.
“So yeah, Fards enjoyed that one. His
role in catapulting my career forward!
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