HAVING RETURNED FROM a minor knee injury, Rob Kearney was highly motivated for Ireland’s World Cup opener against Canada on Saturday.
The 29-year-old put in a busy shift for Joe Schmidt’s men, admitting this week that his lungs had been burning as he struggled to gulp down air in the Millennium Stadium.
Given his relative lack of game time, it seems likely that Kearney will feature again for Ireland this weekend against Romania, and Schmidt will be hoping to see more another effort from one of his key senior players.
The highlight passage of Kearney’s performance against the Canadians was his second-half effort to make three tackles in eight seconds, stopping Liam Underwood from potentially breaking out of the Canada half, dragging down DTH van der Merwe and then slamming Ciaran Hearn into touch.
