Rob Kearney performed a double-take at Carton House this week when he was asked if South Africa would take any confidence from defeating the All Blacks in October.
‘A huge amount of confidence I imagine,’ he replied. ‘We didn’t beat them. We stayed within two points and we got a lot of confidence from that game. I can only imagine what it has done to them. South Africa are probably the form team in the world right now. They are going to be coming over here and they will be looking for clean slates and we need to get out of the blocks really, really early.’
The Leinster fullback admits the two-Test tour to Argentina was ‘not a massive tester’ for Ireland and feels the team need to hit the ground running against a battle-ready Springbok side. Kearney bristled at the suggestion that Ireland may be caught cold due to the new combinations in midfield and back three. ‘We know where exactly we are,’ he declared before going on to heap praise on Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne.
‘They compliment each other really well,’ he said.’ They are big lads, biggest centre partnership we have seen in a long time. Robbie brings a really good freshness and youth there and although Jared is in for cap number one, he brings a huge amount of experience to his game as well.’
Kearney has been enthused by the inclusion of young talents, such as Henshaw, Darragh Leader and (training invitee) Gary Ringrose, in the Irish squad. ‘I remember back a while when I was coming in to my first national camp. It’s a brilliant feeling. You’re buzzing and that’s infectious. Even some of the older guys and the guys who have been in the set-up for a few years, we feed off that. We can see that they are buzzing, that they are excited and it does wonders for the whole group.’
He was 23 in 2009 when he announced himself to the Springboks in spectacular style on the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour. ‘It was a huge thing,’ said Kearney. ‘I was going out there. I never really knew how much I would be involved or what sort of an impact I would be in a position to make, so you just have to prepare as best you can and when your chance does come, you need to be in a position to take it.’
The 28-year-old was primed with an answer for the inevitable question on Willie le Roux, his direct opponent on Saturday. “He looks like a class player, very good. I haven’t played against him yet. He’s burst on the scene now, 18 months ago and is a really go to player for them. Tries a huge amount of things. He’s capable of a turnover or two in a game and we just need to pounce on the scraps when he does,’ said Kearney.
‘When you go into these big games, the one thing that I know the two guys will give is 100% commitment and a huge level of physicality. Once you bring that into any game, regardless of the size of it, we will be well on our way. Ok, they may not have played that combination together, or Robbie might not have played a huge amount at 12 but sometimes that can be overplayed a little bit and if you bring a huge amount of aggression, physicality and commitment, it makes up for a huge amount of the rest.’
Kearney has been dogged by niggling back and hamstring injuries this season but declares he has felt 100 per cent for the past two weeks. ‘I probably could have played in Europe, round two, but given that such a big November was around the corner, the executive decision was to hold off.’
The Cooley native believes the recent introduction of 20-year-old out-half Handré Pollard has changed South Africa’s game immensely. ‘He takes the line on very well. His first instinct is to run as opposed to Morne Steyn who was a lot more of a kicking out-half. It is simply down to him and the changes that he has brought to his game.’
The World Cup countdown is well and truly on but Kearney feels it would unprofessional of Ireland to look beyond the upcoming November Tests. ‘In the back of our minds we are all hugely aware that this is a massive 15 months for this team,’ he said, ‘and this group of players coming up against southern hemisphere players, we need to be competing with them at a really close level if we hope to have a chance of a World Cup (win).’
