Johnny Wattersonon how Leinster's Rob Kearney has made the fullback position his own despite Girvan Dempsey's return from injury
FROM RECENT performances Rob Kearney has built up something of an image of himself as a steaming train moving with purpose towards a known destination. The one-time winger, whose day dreams at the beginning of the season revolved around playing at fullback for Leinster, was finally given his chance when the faultless Girvan Dempsey became injured. Kearney is still there.
Philosophically, Dempsey must look on and now possibly allow for his anxiety to colour his thinking of his place in this year’s the Six Nations Championship. Kearney, playing the best football of his career, has greatly complicated Dempsey’s twilight years.
The 33-year-old fullback was one of Ireland coach Declan Kidney’s autumn picks for the Ireland fullback job along with Leicester’s Geordan Murphy and Munster’s Keith Earls. The current reversal of fortune around Donnybrook as well as long-term thoughts incorporating the next World Cup may well force another line of thinking in the mind of Kidney when he comes to sift through his sizeable Six Nations panel.
Even Michael Cheika acknowledged yesterday that the “guy sitting to my right” as he phrased it, took the number 15 shirt and has refused to let it go. Kearney has proved both irresistible and immovable even with a player with 82 Irish caps and 149 Leinster outings breathing down his neck.
“This could be a Northern- Southern Hemisphere thing,” said Cheika summing up what position Kearney is best playing. “We consider our wings very integral players as far as attack. They’ve involvement on a regular basis. Here it’s more fullback is the pivotal man in the middle of the field. I know that Rob prefers to play fullback than wing. But I also know that he’d prefer to play on the wing than on the bench.”
That last line drew a wry smile from Kearney. His form over the last few months, drawn in equal measure from his lively ambition when he gets the ball as his rock-solid ability underneath it, has been such that it has been a long time since he has had to consider splintering his behind sitting on the sideline.
“He (Kearney) probably had a little bit of frustration at the start of the season because he wasn’t playing there. But then he took his opportunity,” added Cheika.
“Now I’m sure Girvan is sweating to get his opportunity so he can take it.”
Kearney’s eye-catching play springs from a combination of motives, not least his comfort and joy in playing at the back. It seems to be a wholly organic thing, one he has been talking about for months and which doubtlessly put pressure on him when Cheika finally reached over to him and delivered the promised land with the number 15.
“I think at times when you enjoy your rugby, it probably gets the best out of you,” explains Kearney. “I’ve been trying to focus most of all on my consistency and limiting the amount of errors I make in every single game. That’s obviously something I’m trying to improve on week in week out but I feel it’s improved over the last few months.
“I think because I feel that it’s more my natural position I didn’t need to make as much of a transition, so my taking on it, because I think it’s my natural place, I feel that’s where I’m most comfortable and happy.”
His hope this weekend is that the backline will be given a platform to run with the ball and that he will not pick up the fourth yellow card of his career after last week’s “bizarre” decision by the touchjudge to recommend a short rest.
But in such win-or-bust matches as this one, it often comes down to the case of the home team having to chase the game. It would be comforting to think that Leinster could end up banging away at the Scots for a try that would put them into the quarter-finals. If so, step forward Rob Kearney. And Kidney will be watching.
