Kearney: Ireland are in a cup final now

Rob Kearney says Ireland are treating next Saturday’s decider against Australia as a cup final as they look to finish their Grand Slam season with a first series win in the southern hemisphere since 1979.

Kearney is already his country’s most decorated player, but the fullback wants to secure one more piece of history before signing off on a trophy-laden season for Leinster and Ireland.

Joe Schmidt’s Six Nations champions bounced back from their opening Test defeat to level the series with a win in Melbourne on Saturday and landed in Sydney overnight to begin their preparations for the Allianz Sydney clash.

Kearney says Ireland will give it everything to finish their campaign with another major scalp.

“We’re into a final now,” Kearney said. “The good thing for this group is that it’s the last game of the season, so there is literally no holding back for anything. We can give every ounce of energy we have.

“Not that we don’t do that anyway, but there’s something about the last game of the season where it’s just all guns blazing, you throw everything into it to win.”

Saturday’s win ended a 39-year wait for an Irish win over the Wallabies on Australian soil when they last won a series beneath the equator and, while Kearney appreciated the significance, he said that this squad were expecting to bounce back after their Brisbane defeat.

“It does feel like an incredible achievement,” he said. “There’s so many guys coming into the squad now who are part of this new breed who just expect to win a little bit, but we understand how difficult it is to win down here.

“Going to Sydney for a dead rubber would have been grim. It was a much better performance to get the win and go on to a series decider.”

Australia received some good news as scans revealed that lock Adam Coleman had not fractured his cheekbone as first feared.