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12th February 2020
10:51am GMT
(Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)[/caption]
Earls came on at outside centre when Robbie Henshaw left the field of play, on 45 minutes, for a Head Injury Assessment that he did not return from [although Andy Farrell did say, post-match, that Henshaw passed HIA 1]. He only made a couple of carries and tackles but his distribution put teammates into great attacking positions on three occasions.
"Selection-wise," Murphy began, "Keith Earls obviously raised his hand. Had some huge moments on Saturday as well. That pass for Larmour was unbelievable. He also had another little bit where he offloaded it to Larmour. And Larmour nearly scored. He put Conway away at another point.
"He's always been overlooked as a 13. He's been kinda written off as a 13; not overlooked; since probably 2011, 2012. He played [some of] the World Cup at 13. I always think, like, he's one of - especially for Munster now - he's one of their most experienced and talented players. And he can pass the ball as good as anyone. Like, defending him at 13 is an absolute nightmare. "A lot of people would say he's too small to play at 13, to which I'd disagree. His decision-making is really good; he's so focused. I like him on the bench now, I have to say, bringing him on and having his ability coming off the bench would be, 'My God, what a rocket up your hole'."Trimble agrees that Earls is an excellent option to cover midfield, if needed, but he would prefer to see him pushing Conway and Stockdale for those wing roles. Flannery chimed in with a recollection of when Earls first came into the Irish set-up in 2008 and what Brian O'Driscoll made of the youngster from Moyross.
"When he first came into the [Munster] team," Flannery recalled, "he was 15 and 13 and he was carving up all the time.
"And I remember when we went up to national camp, Drico just saying, 'This guy, when he plays instinctively, he has you'. "It's when he starts to have the ball and thinks for a second, it gives you a second and a chance to recover. But if Earlsy just plays instinctively - gets the ball, puts foot-work on - his acceleration is so... he just creates such separation between himself and the defender once he steps he's just so hard to defend."Earls can cover every backline position bar the half-backs from the replacements bench and Murphy feels that no matter where he does feature, he is a handful for defences. "I've played outside him at 13 when he was 12 a few times," he commented. "I've played outside him on the wing when he was 13. Everyone has to sit down when he has the ball. Space is created and opens up all around him." Earls' focus will be on getting back into jerseys 11 or 14 but, should Farrell warm to the idea of having a Swiss army knife on the bench, the Munster man could well join the 100 caps club thanks to his versatility. WATCH THE LATEST HOUSE OF RUGBY HERE:
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