WE’LL KEITH OUR COOL

Earls refusing to be fuelled by anger

ICE cool Keith Earls insists anger isn’t the energy Ireland need as they chase a crucial victory in Edinburgh.

Earls acknowledges that his wing was targeted by England last Saturday, and he was taken out of the action at half-time following two Maro Itoje hits. But he also admits he was at fault for Jonny May’s try after just 90 seconds.

“I didn’t make a good decision,” said Earls. “I tried to solve a problem on my own but got it completely wrong.

“Look, I’m big enough and old enough to know that and accept that.”

The upshot was that Ireland suffered only their second loss in 20 matches. But the Munster star is not riled up by any of it as he hopes for a better outcome against Scotland on Saturday. “There’s nothing good when it’s fuelled by anger,” he said. “We’ve put the disappointment behind us, we’re all big enough to do that.

“We’ve got to get more accurate with our own plays and detail – and try not to be second to everything this week.

“The good thing about it is we can fix a lot of the things ourselves. Everyone thinks we were poor but some of the decision-making by individuals probably let us down.

“We actually didn’t play that badly. We’re not a bad team overnight.

“We know there’s another massive challenge ahead with Scotland and with the firepower they have, we have to be 100 per cent.”

Earls sent his family home earlier than planned on Sunday so he could work on his recovery.

“Those are the sacrifices you make,” said the 31-year-old winger.

“It’s just a hip pointer, I took some bangs on it and it just seized up, got really sore. I’ve been icing it ever since.”

With Garry Ringrose (inset) the latest player ruled out, Joe Schmidt will be relieved Earls trained fully yesterday.

The damage was done as Earls jumped to gather Owen Farrell’s kick-off and was challenged by Itoje – then later in the opening period when big Saracens lock crashed into him in the air but wasn’t penalised.

Earls said: “I don’t know what he thought of it, whether he got his timing wrong or whatever.

“I had a look back at it and it does look bad, but that’s not for me to say. It was just a big collision.

He’s a big man and if it had been anyone smaller I would’ve been alright.

“There was a lot of pressure down my way alright with kicking. I suppose it worked for them.

“It was frustrating. Everything kind of shut down around my hip and it was sore to run because it swelled out. “They usually loosen out but it didn’t. It was the first time I stayed on injured and tried to run it off because I’m usually quite good at knowing my body and when to come off. So I probably should have come off earlier.” Ireland can’t afford to lose again – and there’s added spice in that Scotland will be their first World Cup opponents come September.

“I didn’t think about that, thanks for reminding me,” Earls smiled. “You know us now, we concentrate on one game at a time. It will be no different this weekend.

“We have a good rivalry there. Edinburgh and Glasgow are flying high, we’re always up against each other so we know each other quite well.

“Rugby in Scotland is going to a whole new level. It’s probably one of the best sides they’ve had in years. It’ll be a massive test for us.”