AS THE number 22 a week before, his had been the last name read out, whereas prior to going out for their weekly squad meal on Wednesday evening Rob Kearney's was the first to be announced. It was, he admitted, an altogether nicer feeling and tomorrow in Pretoria he will make his first Test start for the Lions, writes GERRY THORNLEY
“When you’re in the 22, it’s fantastic you’re on the bench, but it’s never quite the same,” said a typically relaxed Kearney yesterday, though with the elevation comes more responsibility as well as certainty. “But obviously now what we do in the jersey will be what we’re remembered for.”
Nor was he aware Lee Byrne had been ruled out through injury. “I hadn’t a clue because Byrney trained all week, so I wasn’t sure . . . I knew I was in with a good shout but I was still nervous before it was read out.”
Kearney, an intelligent, emotionally calm character, didn’t concern himself with thoughts he was going to miss out on a Test starting place when picked on the bench a week ago. “No, I’ve learned to be patient. I spoke to (backs coach) Rob (Howley) last week just after the Test team was picked and he told me the situation I was in, so I knew I was firmly still in with a shot.”
The Leinster fullback goes into a hostile environment tomorrow, but has the assuring presence of fellow Grand Slam winners in the back four. “Yeah, it has to be. I love playing alongside Luke (Fitzgerald) and Tommy (Bowe), they’re fantastic players and I think especially this season we’ve come through tough moments in some big, high-pressure games. Hopefully that will stand to us.”
Before the first Test, Kearney and some other players took their minds off rugby by going to the movies to see The Hangovers.
The tension and the seriousness of the build-up will be no different to the first Test. “There’s obviously more riding on it and the ante has been upped a huge amount, but we have to approach it the same way we can and make sure we start off the way we finished last week. I think last week we proved in the second half we had the potential to beat the Springboks, so it’s important to get at them from the word go.”
Kearney has only the one game at altitude, the 74-10 win over the Golden Lions in the second game, and that was an evening kick-off. Aerial ping-pong, fielding, counter-kicking and selecting when to counter-attack have become more important than ever in the modern game, and altitude accentuates that.
Kearney acknowledges it’s a strength of his game and one he has to bring to the table, and after a mumps-affected end to the regular season, he has been very composed and kicking well on tour. His siege-gun left boot was always liable to flourish in these conditions and it has done. Happy with that aspect of his game, Kearney says: “We have been doing a good bit of practice after training on the better surfaces, it generally seems to fly that little bit better.” Is he a little surprised at how far it goes? “Big time, yeah. I’ve found the higher you kick it, the further it travels, so you do try and change your trajectory a little bit, but there’s an extra 10-15 metres on it at least.”
That makes receiving kicks trickier than normal too. “You’re receiving them further back so the space between you and the opposition makes it harder for counter-attacking. There’s huge permutations with it.”
Kearney and the other kickers will practise at Newlands in Cape Town this morning, but with the Lions not travelling until this evening so as to land within the recommended 24-hour window before altitude takes effect, that will make the warm-up at Loftus Versfeld even more important. “The warm-up at altitude is quite important because not only do you have to get a feel of the surroundings, but it’s important to try and get a second wind. You get the heart rate up quite high so when kick-off comes it’s not a shock to the system.”
