Ryan Baird has spent a good portion of his senior rugby career trying to convince observers there is more to him than the tagline of “athletic phenom”. Marvelling at the speed and dexterity housed in a 6ft 6in frame, particularly when he inveigles his way into Lilliput – or the backline to use the rugby term – it’s easy to be sidetracked by those razzle-dazzle moments.
A major stumbling block in his quest to elevate his game to elite practitioner at Test level is whether he has a consistent ability to attend to the mundane. This relates to the chores of his job spec as a secondrow or backrow forward – hitting rucks, clearing out and making tackles on the fringes.
There is a deep-seated suspicion that while lavishly gifted players are off gallivanting and enjoying life away from the close-combat drudgery, others hav
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