THERE WAS A moment earlier this year when it was feared Keith Earls’ days as a pro rugby player were numbered. The veteran winger injured his groin against the Sharks in late April, and after Munster confirmed he would be sidelined for ‘a number of weeks’ it looked as though Earls might not play for Munster again.
It’s been over a year since Earls last lined out in green. He came off the bench in the third Test of last summer’s tour to New Zealand, with the first Test – where he scored the opening try after just six minutes – the last time he started a game for Ireland. He’s been stuck on 98 caps since, missing the autumn internationals through injury and not making a matchday squad during the Six Nations after being hampered by injury in the build-up to the tournament.
By the time the 2009/10 season rolled around Earls was a mainstay of the team. It’s only in the last two years that Earls has slipped out of the Ireland starting team – apart from a couple of significant injury setbacks – but Farrell has always made his admiration for the Limerick man clear. For the second meeting with the Maori All Blacks last summer, Farrell handed Earls the Ireland captaincy for the first time.
Last season he featured just nine times for Munster, starting five games, but managed to deliver big performances on the biggest days. In the URC semi-final win over Leinster at Aviva Stadium, Earls produced an massive 80-minute shift and then made an impact off the bench in the final defeat of the Stormers. After the Leinster game, Earls admitted he had shed a tear on the pitch as he reflected on what had been “a rough season” for him personally.
Yet Earls isn’t in this Ireland squad for his try-scoring ability. Farrell places huge value in the experience players like Earls and Cian Healy bring to the environment and the winger’s defensive work is a big selling point – over the last couple of seasons, many of his biggest plays have been try-saving, or tone-setting tackles in some of Munster’s biggest games.