‘Ninja’ Earls happy to plough his own

Winger in form of his life after heeding lessons from Paul O’Connell, writes Ruaidhri O’Connor

LOOKING down at the warm-ups at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday, it was curious to note the outlier in the Munster ranks.

Twenty-two players raced around, resplendent in red, but Keith Earls was the man in black.

He went on to be his team’s best performer over 80 minutes of razor-sharp wing-play. He scored two excellent tries and was denied a third through no fault of his own.

At 30 and after less than two weeks pre-season, it was impressive stuff and Earls puts it down to being comfortable in his own skin.

His gym sessions last 150pc longer than most of the young lads, but involve far fewer weights. He warms up to his own beat, wears his preferred gear. It works for him and, in turn, his team.

There was a time when he wouldn’t put his head above the parapet and would do the assigned drills, but he learnt from watching Paul O’Connell get the most out of his long career.

Everything down to the gear he’s wearing while warming-up goes into the performance.

“It’s just what you’re comfortable in, I feel right in that. I feel like I get a better sweat on, my muscles are just constantly warm,” he explains.

“I suppose a lot of it is about how you feel, your confidence.

“It’s gas, the lads were calling me the ninja below. I always do it, I like warming up in it. I rarely do a warm-up with the lads. It’s not being ignorant that I want to do my own thing, it’s just that I know what works for me.

“The physio and the lads are happy with that, it’s something I got from Paul as well – I’d see him warming up in the corner.

“Because if I don’t warm up properly I don’t feel good and something could happen.

“In the Aviva I won’t come to the field and warm up, I’ll obviously come out for the team warm-up, but I do my individual stuff inside.

“I like to be inside, keeping warm. It’s not like I’m frightened of the cold, but if there’s a stadium where I can warm up inside I’ll do it.

“It just gets the muscles firing. “I’m not disrespecting the lads, I’d love to be with those fellas 24/7 and be able to do everything that they’re doing.

“But if I do that then I’m not going to be right for the weekend.

“All the boys appreciate that, if anything the boys will be slagging me. Some of my gym sessions are two-and-a-half hours long, they float in and out and do their hour.

“A lot of my stuff is getting the body right, a lot of rehab stuff. I don’t lift much weights anymore, it just didn’t agree with me.

“That’s the only downside, I’d love to be able to do the weights but I only do bits and pieces now.

“I’m a rugby player, not a body builder. I just want to stay quick. Ideally, I’d love to be 100kg and quick; unfortunately I can’t be.

“If I can get all of my mechanics working well and be lighter weight then I’m happy with that.”

Earls roomed with his fellow Young Munster man O’Connell for years and used the time wisely.

They still bump into one another regularly, albeit in different circumstances.

“I meet him mostly now in the schoolyard when we’re dropping the kids and we’d have a chat. It’s gas,” he says.

“I had notebooks when I was rooming with him and I’d always jot down stuff he’d say to me and I’d go back and read them.

“He knew I had notebooks, but he wouldn’t be thinking I’d be writing down what he’d be saying.

“He’s always on the end of the phone as well.”

A picture of perpetual movement on the pitch, Earls says he barely sits still at home or at work either.

Everything he does is targeted at getting the most out of his body when it comes to the weekend.

“It’s just doing whatever it is