DAVE KEARNEY SHAKES his head when asked the obvious opening question.
“It doesn’t get much easier to be honest, any time you’re injured,” he says.
It’s been a frustrating season for the veteran Leinster winger, who came into the campaign on the back of one of his busiest years with the province.
Last season Kearney clocked up a total 1,458 minutes across 20 appearances in all competitions for Leinster, scoring 10 tries along the way. The recent URC wins over Edinburgh and the Ospreys represented his first minutes of the current campaign.
“I had an ankle issue at the start of the year, that was pretty straightforward to be honest,” Kearney explains.
“I was back pretty early after that. And then I got a big of game time in that ‘A’ game against Ulster in which I picked up a back issue. I thought that was going to be only four to six weeks and then it turned out to be eight, 10, 12, and next thing you know you’re halfway through the season.
It’s great to be back in. You almost feel not really part of the squad in a weird way when you’re injured and out for so long. It doesn’t get any easier watching training or watching games, you want to be involved, but I got through the last two weeks, two back-to back games, which is good so hopefully I’ll get a few more now over the next few weeks.”
Kearney makes no effort to sugar-coat the difficulties presented by such an extended spell on the sidelines, much of which is spent working away from the main playing group.
“I’m usually pretty level. I don’t let things get me really down or I’m not really up. I just get on with things. If I get a setback I just try to stay as positive as possible. During that time, there’s obviously other bits and bobs you can work on depending on what injury you have.
“I never really had a back injury before and that was frustrating in the sense that I couldn’t really do a whole amount, even in the gym, in particular. I kind of just did a lot of running. You’re trying just to stay as positive as you can really and once you have a target in your mind when you’ll definitely be back, you’re just kind of working towards that.
“The first couple of games (back), it’s definitely just step by step, just getting back into the normal schedule really.
“Training sessions are a lot tougher than rehab ones. Fitness rehab ones are tough, but it’s pretty boring to be honest, there’s a lot of straight-line running and you maybe try bring a bit of skills work if you can to make things a bit more exciting.
“But the way we train, it’s so fast, there’s a lot of running and they try to make training as chaotic as possible. The training is actually tougher than the fitness rehab ones you do, so it’s great to get back in and have a bit more excitement, get the ball in your hands. It’s obviously pretty boring just running up and down the pitch all day.”
With James Lowe and Jordan Larmour both currently away in Ireland camp, Kearney is hoping to build his minutes as Leinster head towards the business of the season, with the 32-year-old hoping to get another run-out against the Lions at the RDS on Friday.
And Kearney, who has amassed 172 Leinster caps, feels he has plenty of rugby left in him, having signed a two-year extension with the province last season.
“Obviously I had the last two games, hopefully this week and then two more games in this block, so try get as many minutes as I can and perform well and put my hand up for selection for the bigger days on the horizon.
“I obviously played a lot last season, then if you get a layoff for a couple of weeks, it’s not the end of the world. It’s like, ‘I’ll miss a couple of games and I’ll be back’, but because this dragged out so long, you’re itching to go.
“You really miss it, and especially last year with Covid etc, I was playing with no crowds and that’s obviously different. The first game I played last week (Edinburgh), I hadn’t played with a crowd since whatever it was, two and a half, three years before that.
“So that obviously brings that excitement too, and to be able to play again in the RDS with a good crowd there, it gets the buzz back, you’re like a young lad playing your first cap, you still get that buzz walking out at the RDS, which is great.”
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