Have boots, will play. John Ryan is enjoying a unique rugby season.
On Saturday, the Corkman will play his 32nd game in a campaign that started out with Wasps and will end in Waikato, across ten months in which he's experienced everything rugby can throw at a player.
He has felt the anxiety of losing his job when Wasps went bust last October and the personal pride at reaching a milestone 200th appearance on his return to Munster.
He got to experience the romance of a stint with the Barbarians, and has the chance to cap it all off with a trophy, when his Chiefs take on the Crusaders in the Super Rugby Pacific final (Saturday 8.05am Irish time).
It started for Ryan back in Gloucester in September, in a game that's since been expunged from the records.
If the chips fell differently, the tighthead would be coming to the end of his first of a three-year deal at Wasps, having been let go by Munster in a short-sighted move at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
He played four of their first five games of the season, with three starts, before the club were placed into administration in October. By the end of the month, he was back at Munster.
Having initially let Ryan go, Munster had entered the season taking a gamble at tighthead, with the only options behind veteran Stephen Archer being the inexperienced trio of Roman Salanoa, Keynan Knox and James French, who had a combined 14 starts between them.
One injury for Archer would have left the province in a real bind, which they found themselves in when the tighthead needed surgery on an ankle issue just five games into the campaign. It was a bizarre stroke of luck that Archer's injury came right as Wasps folded, and Ryan was brought back to Munster to clean up some of the mess the province made when they let him go.
By this point, Munster were deep in the midst of what was looking like a disastrous campaign. Ryan's first appearance back in the red shirt saw them fall to a defeat to Ulster, their fifth out of seven to start the campaign, with new head coach Graham Rowntree also having to deal with an unprecedented injury crisis.
While his return would only be for three months, it afforded him the chance to join an exclusive club at his home province. Having left the province the previous summer on 197 appearances for Munster, the third game of his second act saw him become the latest inductee of the province's '200 club', one of just 14 players to have hit that mark.
His return to the province also coincided with their turning of a corner in mid-season, logging eight games, split evenly between the URC and Champions Cup.
He missed the famous win against a South African Select XV at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, having been invited into the Barbarians squad for their November games against an All Blacks XV, where he would play three games for the famous invitational side, something he described as a "bucket list" item at the time.
"The social element, you hear stories [about the Barbarians] and I'm now thinking 90% of them are true," he told Rugbypass at the time.
"It’s like nothing you ever do. It’s brilliant, unreal craic.
"I'm 34 but it is something I always did want to do. I didn’t know I would get the opportunity but I’m happy I’m here."
While 'Baa-Baas' are known for their legendary social scene, the amateur throwback side represent a networking opportunity in the days of professionalism. Several of Ryan's former Wasps teammates, as well as others from Worcester were included in the Barbarians squad to put themselves in the shop window after both teams had gone into financial ruin.
It was while on Barbarians duty that he caught the eye of Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan, with McMillan involved in the All Blacks XV setup that Ryan went up against in London. The Super Rugby franchise were looking for a ringer at tighthead after New Zealand international Angus Taʻavao was ruled out for the season due to injury.
Efforts were made to keep him at Munster for the rest of the season, but a season in Super Rugby won him over and in January Ryan packed his bags again, and along with his wife and three kids pitched up in Hamilton on New Zealand's north island for the latest stop on his backpacking season.
Munster were disappointed to see him go, but they will be welcoming him back next season, when he'll return for a third spell at the province, signing a one-year deal. When he returns to Limerick, he may very well have played his part in two title successes in one season.
Saturday's final, in which Ryan is among the replacements, will be his 17th appearance put of a possible 18 for the Waikato franchise, with eight of those games coming from the start.
He's been a core member of the best team in Super Rugby - so far - this season, with McMillan's side losing just one game in the regular season, while they also beat Saturday's opponents Crusaders both home and away in during the campaign.
He won't be the only Irishman playing at the FMG Stadium, with Kildare's Oli Jager the starting tighthead for the Crusaders, who are looking to win their fifth full Super Rugby title in a row, and give the perfect send-off to head coach Scott Robertson as he moves on to the All Blacks gig after the World Cup.
Having spoken to those on the ground in New Zealand, his contribution to the Chiefs' run to the final has been "solid without being spectacular". For a tighthead prop, that's a resounding positive, and it's also seen Ryan emerge as a potential World Cup wildcard for Ireland.
At the moment, Tadhg Furlong, Finlay Bealham and Tom O'Toole are the consensus top three tightheads under Andy Farrell, with a bunfight among the contenders next in line.
Furlong has been battling injury for much of the last year, and if his calf issues resurface during the training camp, Ryan would appear to be the sensible and experienced option, particularly having featured in Farrell's Irish squads up until 2021.
What a turnaround it would be for a player who almost walked away from the game last October.
