INTERCEPT SOURED MY DISPLAY, ADMITS KEARNEY
IT WASN’T just the new faces in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland team who took to the Aviva Stadium turf on Saturday with something to prove. For Dave Kearney, his surprise inclusion on the wing represented a first cap since February 2016 following a difficult spell on the sidelines. Speaking shortly after Ireland edged past Fiji on Saturday, the 28-year-old admitted that after being out of the picture for so long, he was keen to savour the feeling of finally wearing a green jersey again. ‘It’s great to feel that buzz again of playing for your country and it’s always a step up, even from playing the big games for Leinster,’ Kearney said. ‘It gives you a feel for it again, to keep working hard and try to get back in the team.’ His return began very impressively against the bruising Fijians, Kearney latching on to an Andrew Conway pass to mark his comeback with a first-half try while providing a constant threat on the ball. He also had a second try ruled out for a knockon in the build-up but things turned sour when he saw a loose pass intercepted by former Ulster man Timoci Nagusa, who sped over the line before Ben Volavola added the extras to level the scores. ‘Personally, the first half went well, a couple of nice touches, a couple of decent tackles but obviously I was disappointed to give that intercept pass away. ‘That’s dampening my performance a bit. ‘Of course I’ll take the positives out of it as well, it’s just straight after a game you think about the negatives that you do and you don’t really think about the positives that much. ‘But Joe said to me afterwards that there were still some positives in that performance as well, which is good to hear, too.’