ENGLAND V IRELAND:Rob Kearney has the skills, flair and confidence to carve out a serious career at fullback for Ireland , writes Gerry Thornley
BLESSED WITH a howitzer of a left boot, pace and real flair, Rob Kearney has good reason to be a self-confident 21-year-old, without being arrogant about it. He recalls opening his curtains at around 7.30am last Saturday as the storm whipped against the windows of the Irish team hotel and jokes that he thought about climbing back into bed. This was not a day to be making your first start as a Test fullback. But in reality, little seems to faze him.
He speaks with a Dan Carter drawl, his voice rarely going up or down one decibel. You'd think his temperament is such that he rarely becomes unduly nervous, and you'd be right.
"Sometimes I do get nervous but I just like to go with whatever I'm feeling. If I am nervous I don't get worked up and try to fight the nerves off; I just go with the flow. I'm lucky like that; as you say, I'm quite chilled out before a game."
He's always been like that. It's just the way he is, the way he's been. And he expects and hopes it will be no different today. The game may be a dead rubber, with support billing to the title decider in Cardiff. Two teams on the rebound, two teams with the last shot at redemption in this tournament. But, as he says himself, it's still an Irish team up against England, and for Kearney and his kindred spirits Bowe, Eoin Reddan and Jamie Heaslip it's a first of its kind.
"For any Irish competitor, going to England - it doesn't get much bigger. There's no silverware to play for but it's a huge occasion and Ireland-England games are always huge. The public take huge interest and there's a lot of pride in it too because, without getting into history politics and all that stuff, you are Irish and there's an awful lot attached to that. When you play England it's huge to beat them, and it's as simple as that."
A product of a family steeped in rugby - his father, David, played for Dundalk - he went, like his elder brother Richard and younger brother David, to Clongowes, where three increasingly eye-catching years on the senior team led to his immediate graduation to the Leinster academy.
Quite why there are "only seven or eight of us" from the famed Kildare school who have made the grade as rugby players is a puzzle even to him.
"It's a rugby institution but Clongowes teams never had individual stars; they're always good teams who ruck well."
In any event, the way he tells it, he was never likely to do much else: "Well, I never wanted to do anything else, but whether it was always going to work out for me I never knew, but it would never be for the lack of trying."
A year after leaving school, he was making his debut for Leinster and played as if on the crest of a wave, oozing confidence from every pore. Despite some initial hiccups last season, Michael Cheika's faith in the player was rewarded when Kearney came through what he admits was "a make or break" day in the so-called Last Stand. Thereafter his form soared again, earning him a debut in the second Test against Argentina, even if the World Cup cut came just too soon.
"In hindsight now it was fantastic for me," he says, with typical maturity and candour. "The positives from not making the World Cup squad greatly outweigh the negatives, I feel. If I did go to France, was I going to play any game time? Probably not.
"I stayed at home, got a good pre-season in and played fullback with Leinster for seven games. And seven games in the Magners League goes a long, long way toward your development. I think I benefited a lot more from that."
In fact, he's not even saying this with the benefit of hindsight, admitting he rationalised his exclusion from the World Cup squad pretty quickly: "I did at the time, to be honest, but I never wanted to admit or say, 'Oh no, it's better if I don't make the World Cup squad,' because that sounds like rubbish, but deep down I knew that staying at home and getting provincial game time would ultimately benefit me."
One ventures Brian Carney, whom Kearney usurped come the Six Nations, might agree.
In any event, by the time of the Six Nations opener against Italy, and helped by Denis Hickie's retirement, Kearney was indeed better placed, a good run of form at fullback and wing for Leinster propelling him into the 22.
"It's different and better. You're at home, in front of your own people. You've got all your family and friends there . . . for any big occasion, to have that sort of support is always fantastic."
Looking back over the last weeks, he accepts that perhaps it was for the best that he gradually went from being number 22 to a couple of starts on the left wing and then fullback last Saturday, rather than being pitched straight in at fullback for the opener against Italy. Even the manner of his first home Test, coming on in the 26th minute unexpectedly for the unfortunate Gordon D'Arcy, had its benefits.
He had sat on the bench with the mindset there was a good chance he wouldn't see any game time at all: "So it was good that it all happened so quickly. Darce damaged his arm and then 30 seconds later he was off, so I didn't have much time to think about it. I remember pretty soon after taking one high ball and that was me sorted out for the game.
"In any game, once your first contribution is positive, you find you're into it, and you're just doing what you do normally."
As someone who had played Gaelic football for the Louth minors, he was as mindful as any 21-year-old of Croke Park's rich history: "I played a lot more Gaelic than rugby before I went to Clongowes, and then when I went to Clongowes I played three years for the Louth minors, and then even when I was 18 I still played a bit of club football.
"I was lucky because the seasons never clashed. I loved that and I still miss it."
He might have dreamed of playing at Croke Park one day, but he could never have imagined that it would be rugby: "Given my Gaelic background, Croke Park was always a shrine to sport, and to play there in front of 80,000 people, to do what you love doing in that arena, is special."
Starting in Paris, against the most lethal outside three in the championship, was a different matter and it's clear that fear was an additional motivating factor.
"A massive test, and deep down I knew that," he admits. "I suppose it's hard to put into words because I knew that ultimately it could have a huge impact if things went wrong. You don't like thinking like these things but the thoughts do enter your head in the week of a game. If things go very wrong then it could be a long road back after the opportunity I'd been given.
"But then closer to the game, you get your head right, and with a good performance, and if you fit in seamlessly, then you're definitely on the right track."
He was happy enough with how it went, even if his involvement was minimal and the key, as it's been for him this season, was keeping mistakes to a minimum.
"That's always been my approach. You can be the best player in the world and make two or three bad mistakes in a game and you might still not get in the team. Consistency is rewarded and that's what I've tried to do."
After another solid outing in the win over Scotland, capped by his first Test try, he was thrilled to be granted the opportunity to wear 15 last week: "I feel more involved. You get a bit more room to run with the ball in hand and then in your counterattack you can choose your lines a bit better, you can size up your options. Just everything about it really."
Conditions at least improved moderately come kick-off, and not unreasonably he had braced himself for an early aerial assault from Stephen Jones: "I didn't get to catch the first one, I had to trap it with my foot. It could have gone wrong, but it didn't and I got to run at them and got into the game after that."
Though he was Ireland's brightest light, it was a grim day, and he's not inclined toward cliches: "If the team wins and you have a poor performance you're still very down, and if you have a good performance and the team loses you're still equally down. You're never happy until both go well. Yes, you can hold your head up a little higher if you have done yourself justice but ultimately if the team loses it's still a sick feeling."
Nonetheless, it's in the CV now, and one day the number 15 jersey will be his to win. Indeed, as much as last Saturday had an eerie end-of-era feel to it, as Eddie O'Sullivan also reminded us, equally it had hints of a new dawn in a finishing back four of Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald, Andrew Trimble and Bowe. This was a glimpse of the future.
"Five years down the line I'd like to think I'll be hugely involved in the Irish team," says Kearney. "We're probably not the big names of the last few Triple Crowns but I think it's all part of the development, and I think we do have the talent there to create a side as good as the one of the last five years."
Good to hear. Even better to watch.
ROB KEARNEY
Position:Fullback/wing
Club:UCD RFC Province: Leinster
School:Clongowes Wood College
Date of birth:26/03/1986
Height:6ft 1in Weight: 95kg
Official Leinster caps:57 (76 points - 13 tries, 3 penalties, 2 conversions)
Magners/Celtic League caps: 41 (9 tries, 3 penalties, 1 conversion)
Heineken Cup caps:16 (4 tries, 1 conversion)
Ireland caps:5 (1 try)
Other honours:Ireland A, Ireland Under-19, Leinster under-19, Ireland Schools
Last four meetings
IRELAND ARE seeking to equal the five-in-a-row achieved over England from 1972 to 1976. Over the last four meetings, England used 41 players in their starting line-ups, whereas Ireland employed 25.Seven Irish players were ever-presents; Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan, Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, John Hayes, Paul O'Connell and Simon Easterby.
March 6th, 2004, Twickenham England 13 Ireland 19
This was to have been the World Cup conquerors' celebratory homecoming post-Sydney. They'd won eight of their previous nine meetings against Ireland (who had won once in HQ over the previous two decades), had won 24 of their preceding 25 games and were on a 22-match unbeaten run at home.
But England's lineout coughed up 11 throws, Ronan O'Gara moved Iain Balshaw all around Twickenham, the defence played in English faces, Gordon D'Arcy was unstoppable, and in a tactical coup, Eddie O'Sullivan identified a softer English outside for Ireland's touchline-to-touchline running game to yield Girvan Dempsey's try.
ENGLAND: I Balshaw; J Lewsey, J Robinson, W Greenwood, B Cohen; P Grayson, M Dawson; T Woodman, S Thompson, P Vickery; S Borthwick, B Kay; J Worsley, L Dallaglio, R Hill.
IRELAND: G Dempsey; S Horgan , G D'Arcy, B O'Driscoll, T Howe; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, A Foley, K Gleeson.
Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).
Feb 28th, 2005, Lansdowne Road Ireland 19 England 13
This victory was founded, on a huge defensive effort. Ronan O'Gara helped Ireland into a 12-10 interval lead by dint of his second drop-goal, whereupon England upped their tempo and regained the lead.
The game turned on a well-executed set-piece move. Denis Hickie ghosted onto a Brian O'Driscoll pass. Though he was held up, from the recycle Geordan Murphy sold Hodgson a sweet dummy to locate O'Driscoll, who skipped along the right touchline before scoring. The lead had changed hands for a sixth time.
IRELAND: G Murphy; G Dempsey, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley.
ENGLAND: J Robinson; M Cueto, J Noon, O Barkley, J Lewsey; C Hodgson, H Ellis; G Rowntree, S Thompson, M Stevens; D Grewcock, B Kay; J Worsley, L Moody, M Corry.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).
March 18th, 2006, Twickenham England 24 Ireland 28
From a harrowing opening 50 minutes in Paris, Ireland came to London seeking the Triple crown but in the championship's 1,000th match, England were still leading coming into the 1,198th minute of 1,200 played in that year's Six Nations.
Moving blind of a scrum on their own 22, O'Gara chipped ahead for O'Driscoll to gather and send Shane Horgan away from halfway. Though collared by Lewis Moody, Horgan kept the move alive, and when Peter Stringer picked him out off another recycle with a clever skip pass, Horgan scored by the corner flag.
ENGLAND: T Voyce; M Cueto, J Noon , S Abbott, B Cohen; A Goode, H Ellis; A Sheridan, L Mears, J White; S Borthwick , S Shaw; J Worsley, L Moody, M Corry .
IRELAND: G Murphy; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, A Trimble; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby , D Wallace, D Leamy.
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
24th February, 2007, Croke Park Ireland 43 England 13
In probably the best performance of Eddie O'Sullivan's reign, this inspired effort put an ill-prepared England to the sword with a record win.
IRELAND: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, D Hickie; R O'Gara , P Stringer; M Horan, R Best, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Easterby , D Wallace, D Leamy.
ENGLAND: O Morgan; J Lewsey, M Tindall, A Farrell, D Strettle; J Wilkinson, H Ellis; P Freshwater, G Chuter, P Vickery; L Deacon, D Grewcock; J Worsley , M Lund, M Corry.
Referee: Joël Jutge (France).
- GERRY THORNLEY
