CENTRAL PERK
Switch to midfield could lengthen Earls’ career
KEITH EARLS turns 34 today. The veteran Munster wing will be fully aware that he is in the final acts of a long, distinguished career. The IRFU are very much thinking along the same lines, signalled by their decision back in March to offer a one-year extension to his central contract deal.
The Limerick native hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down just yet. He is second on the list of Ireland’s all-time try scorers, needing 12 tries to catch Brian O’Driscoll in first place. He also has eyes on Simon Zebo’s record at Munster. Earls was just one try behind his teammate in the alltime list before Zebo crossed for a brace against the Sharks last Saturday night.
Despite his age, he remains a deadly finisher, a brilliant defender and a quietly effective leader in both camps. He showed his value to Ireland at the tail-end of a difficult Six Nations, putting in a huge defensive shift in the narrow win at Murrayfield before displaying his killer instincts to burn Jonny May for a brilliant score against England in Dublin.
Andy Farrell is still clearly a fan, as is Johann van Graan. But Earls will be well aware of the long list of young and ambitious outside backs who are emerging across all the provinces. Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour and James Lowe have all had high-profile defensive issues at Test level.
It’s a big reason why so much trust has been placed in Earls, season after season. When Stockdale and Co get the darker arts nailed down, however, they will become serious options in the green jersey. Then there’s young guns like Robert Baloucoune, Ethan McIlroy and Shane Daly, who have bright futures ahead of them. Will Addison, Andrew Conway and Alex Wootton are a little further down the track but they have no shortage of international ambitions either.
So, the traffic in the outside backs is starting to get very congested indeed. It’s the same at Munster, with Zebo, Daly, Calvin Nash and Conway all vying for starting spots.
Where the province is short of bodies is in midfield. Damian de Allende is currently away on international duty with South Africa while Chris Farrell is currently sidelined with an abdominal injury. That leaves Dan Goggin and Rory Scannell as the only frontline centres in the squad. The pair started the season opener last weekend.
Munster could do with a few more options in the months ahead. Step forward, Earls. This is his first start at outside centre since January 2018. It’s been a while, but it could potentially be a long-term solution for Earls and the operation as a whole.
There are a number of top players who made the move from the wing to the centre late in their careers. When Tana Umaga, Aurelian Rougerie and Stirling Mortlock began to lose a yard of pace, they shifted into the centre and added years to their careers, at club and Test level.
Earls could do the same here. He is no stranger to the position anyway. He had a long run in midfield alongside Lifeimi Mafi during the 2008/09 campaign. A lot of people remember his defensive misread in the lead-up to Gordon D’Arcy’s try in that Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park, but few recall his searing 60-metre midfield break earlier in the game.
Earls also stepped up to the plate during the 2015 World Cup. In the wake of O’Driscoll’s international retirement in 2014, Joe Schmidt had already patched together a makeshift midfield in Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne.
When the latter was ruled out of the tournament with injury, Earls slotted in at No13. He started the games against Italy, France and Argentina.
Once the likes of Garry Ringrose and a new generation of midfielders emerged on the scene, Earls shifted back to his familiar left wing, where he looked most comfortable. He has played some of his best rugby in recent years. He is a far more grounded player these days and doesn’t suffer with the same pre-match nerves which blighted his younger years.
He might feel a lot more comfortable as a centre now. It could be the change he needs to ensure he has a seat on the plane to France in 2023 for one last shot at a World Cup.
For now, he is solving a bit of a problem for Munster. His seasonal debut at centre is one of four changes from last Saturday’s 42-17 hammering of the Sharks. Daly and Nash are promoted to the wings with Zebo — who bagged that brace on his homecoming last weekend — drops down to bench duties while Conway has been given the weekend off.
There is one change to the pack as Keynan Knox, the young South African tighthead, is promoted to the frontrow alongside Niall Scannell and Dave Kilcoyne. Munster need Knox to step forward and nail down a starting slot because John Ryan and Stephen Archer are not getting any younger while Roman Salanoa has been hindered by injuries since his move from Leinster.
The half-back combination of Craig Casey and Joey Carbery is retained, as is the backrow of Peter O’Mahony, Jack O’Donoghue and Gavin Coombes. After his hugely encouraging cameo, RG Snyman is poised for another action-packed introduction at some stage in the second half.
Jean Kleyn will be keen to put in a big shift as well. The giant South African arrived from the Stormers in 2016 and quickly made a big impression as the province’s enforcer. He signed a contract extension in 2018, but that deal runs out in the summer.
He has not appeared on the Ireland radar since his controversial call-up to Schmidt’s World Cup in 2019 — at the expense of Devin Toner — while the presence of fellow South Africans Snyman and Jason Jenkins, who is nearing a return to fitness and a Munster debut in the near future, will put the heat on Kleyn this season.
His old club provide the opposition this evening as the Stormers from Cape Town roll into Limerick city. Their opening round loss to Treviso shows their current place in the pecking order. The Stormers will be a completely different proposition once the likes of Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe and Damian Williemse return from Springbok duty.
Losing Pieter-Steph du Toit — one of the best loose forwards on the planet — to Japanese club, Toyota Verblitz, on the eve of the tournament is very much a sign of the times, however.
Munster will fancy their chances of another handsome win tonight and their veteran midfielder should be in his element.
The change may ensure he’s on the plane to France 2023