TWO MONTHS SHY of two years after Ian Keatley was booed by a smattering of discontented viewers in Thomond Park, Saturday must rank among the out-half’s best nights in red.
It’s not that he was flawless or that everything went right, it was how he adapted and bounced back after something went wrong. And in conditions like last Saturday in Limerick, something will always go wrong.
Rassie Erasmus’ stint in charge of Munster has coincided with a time in which Keatley has been visibly enjoying his rugby. Thanks to Tyler Bleyendaal’s form, he has often had to restrict that enjoyment to impact off the bench and at times from fullback, but this past week he was in the driving seat. Starting 10, from the first day of training to the final minute when he booted the ball into the stands to signal a priceless Munster win.
“Rassie was talking about the wind: ‘which way is it going?’ I was like: ‘I don’t know, you don’t worry, you’ll be up in your comfy seat,’” Keatley joked post-match.
The rediscovered assurance in his surroundings and his game, he attributes to a touch of perspective. Life and death is worth worrying about. Rugby is a game, a job, a bonus.
“I am just enjoying myself. We just had a baby girl (Beth) there four weeks ago. It just puts a lot of things into perspective and even with Anthony passing away last year, you are kinda like…
Rugby is so important, don’t get me wrong, but then sometimes you just have to take yourself away from it, and you kinda go ‘what’s more important in life?’”
Keatley doesn’t feign indifference when the issue of his opposite number is brought up. Ronan O’Gara lamented that Racing didn’t have Dan Carter ‘at full swing’ after he took an early knock and was replaced before the hour, but it’s still Dan Carter, still one for the scrapbook.
“It’s cool, you want to play against the best. So it was cool seeing his name (on the team-sheet). I think he went off and hurt himself early on, so hopefully he’s not too bad. Yeah, it is a buzz.
“Everyone thinks about the opposite number, but you rarely tackle him, you rarely come one-on-one with him, so it’s different, but you are trying to raise your standards because it is Dan Carter.”
And there were a few elements you could call Carter-esque about Keatley’s performance. He unleashed an array of kicks from hand in the attempt to turn Racing around or unlock their defence shorter deft touches off the boot – most notably the chip which presented Simon Zebo the chance to offload to Keith Earls early in the second half.
“We talked about how we wanted to attack them with our kicking game and we felt we played too much in our own half in the last few weeks. Rassie, Jacques, Felix and Fla put a good gameplan together. The weather helped us execute that gameplan as well.
“With the wind going across the pitch, the two corners were where to attack in the second half. We talked about, even if it was covered, to drill balls in or put up contestables to attack them.”
Between Storm Brian and a low-scoring, hard-fought European win, Keatley adds that Munster gave Johann van Graan ‘a little flavour’ of what life in the province is like. But the out-half wasn’t willing to blame the wind for the one kick he missed from the three that came his way – a 40-metre effort from in front of the posts in between two improbable conversions from each touchline.
“It was tough, but I wouldn’t say (the wind) was the reason. I think it was just simple lack of concentration, which is frustrating. But I think I bounced back.
“Glad I nailed the conversion after that. That’s all you can do sometimes. I’ve learned from the past to put the bad stuff behind and just carry on.”
