Ryan Baird
EVERYBODY IN Leinster knew about Ryan Baird from a long way off, from way back in his school days when his giant frame, his big stride, his high knee lift was as obvious to those watching him as the grass he was eating up as the star second-row of St Michael’s College. The Dublin school, where Father Ted (Dermot Morgan) once taught, is a rugby academy that has already delivered James Ryan, Dan Leavy, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne and Ronan Kelleher to the Test arena.
People in Leinster could see what he was capable of, but it was really only in late February of last year when everybody outside of Ireland began to see it. Baird scored a Guinness Pro14 hat-trick against Glasgow at the RDS that night. A winger and a fly-half until he was 15, he always had pace and a desire to attack. His athleticism, his ball-carrying, his handling were
