BACK IN BUSINESS
Ireland can rely on classy Kearney Star is showing he’s still top dog
“I think every player has self-doubt”
RUMOURS of Rob Kearney’s international demise have been greatly exaggerated. The veteran Leinster full-back has been written off many times, but he remains Joe Schmidt’s goto man in the backfield.
Murrayfield was his latest comeback and Kearney reaffirmed his status as Ireland’s first-choice full-back with an accomplished display.
Schmidt’s experiment of deploying Robbie Henshaw backfired against England when the Leinster centre’s lack of top-level experience in that position was exposed.
Henshaw’s promotion looked ominous for Kearney. The Louth man had been left behind when Ireland embarked on a pre-tournament training camp in Quinta do Lago.
Kearney stayed behind to get some much-needed game-time with Leinster. An off-colour display against the Scarlets followed and the writing was on the wall. Henshaw was handed a start for the Six Nations opener with Kearney a notable omission from the matchday 23.
An injury to Henshaw in the lead-up to the Scotland game opened the door for Kearney and the 32-year-old delivered in spades. It was only the second time this season that he got a full 80 minutes under his belt, but Kearney rarely fails to hit the ground running.
‘I felt good out there,’ he said, reflecting on his performance in Ireland’s 22-13 win over Scotland.
‘I think I probably grew into the game a little more as the second half went on.
‘I didn’t feel great in that Scarlets game, two weeks beforehand. Obviously, there was a fallout after that.
‘You’re always second-guessing yourself a little when that is your last reference point for games.
‘To put a decent 80 minutes together was nice.’
Often hailed for his defensive abilities and the security he provides under the high ball, it was Kearney’s scything breaks that caught the eye in Edinburgh.
‘Yeah, the first one felt weird, running in open space again,’ he joked.
Whether Schmidt revisits the option of Henshaw at full-back remains to be seen but Kearney once again looks the frontrunner for the World Cup.
It says a lot about his character that he was so forthcoming with advice for Henshaw prior to the England game.
‘Yeah, we had good chats,’ he said.
‘Myself and Robbie would be pretty close. It was a tricky one because I did want him to do well, but not too well. At the same time, you feel a little bit of a responsibility to help him out too, particularly as he hadn’t played there in so long.
‘I did try to help him out a little bit and we went through some of the video stuff during the week. But, at the same time, when Saturday came around, I didn’t want him to shoot it out of the park.’
For a player with 88 caps and four Six Nations titles to his name, Kearney has never taken his place for granted.
In the dressing room before Ireland’s clash with the All Blacks at Soldier Field back in 2016, Schmidt took Kearney to one side and said, ‘you need a big one today.’
He subsequently played one of his greatest games in an Ireland jersey on that historic day in Chicago. He has always been a big game player.
‘There is a difference between coaches having faith in you and having self-doubt,’ he admitted.
‘I think every player goes through it. Self-doubt is at its highest after a poor performance. That’s where your experience comes into play, you’ve a huge amount of resources in the memory bank that you can get back to those good heights — particularly if your training is good.
‘That’s why I always judge things on... you might have a bad game at the weekend, but if you’re training well Monday to Friday and you’re still producing it on the training field you can generally have pretty good confidence that your moment will come on Saturday afternoon.’
Securing a seat on that flight to Japan in September will be Kearney’s top priority. After the crushing disappointments of 2011 and 2015, he has a lot of unfinished business with the World Cup.
His deal with the IRFU expires after that tournament and he is currently plotting his next move after that.
‘I’m trying to get it all done now in the next four to six weeks,’ he added.
‘Obviously, it’s not ideal timing in the middle of the Six Nations but that’s just where we’re at in the moment.
‘I’m going to finish out the season, definitely, after the World Cup. So it’s just a matter of trying to get some plans in place in the next four to six weeks or so.’