Des Ryan is responsible for the the in-house education for fitness staff of the IRFU, as well as managing the Certified Conditioning Programme run by the IRFU. He has been Connacht's head fitness advisor for eight seasons. He joined Connacht in 1998 as a development officer and fitness advisor and two years later was appointed Connacht senior head fitness advisor.

Ryan has worked with a number of Irish sides, including the victorious Triple Crown-winning student’s side of 2002 and the Ireland 'A' squad for their Six Nations and Churchill Cup campaigns. He has being involved with teams in other sports and was in charge of fitness when Roscommon won the 2001 Connacht senior football championship.