HONESTY is a rare commodity these days in sport. Nine out of 10 interviews done with professional sports stars are all the same. The cliches rattled off are often more plentiful that truthful words.
Every once in a while however, a player comes along who just says it as it is. One of those, is Limerick’s Keith Earls.
Earls, the 24 year old, 32 time capped, former St Munchins College player, is once more openly admitting that he is looking to play for Munster and Ireland, in the centre.
Prior to the Summer Tour to New Zealand, Earls had spoken to the Limerick Post about his ambition to nail down the number 13 slot. The Munster man managed to do that for the first test, before missing the second test through injury. Once more however, the final test saw Earls back at 11. A wing spot, that Declan Kidney and Tony Mc Gahan have played the talented Lion.
“To be honest, I absolutely hate playing 11. Every bad game I’ve played, it’s been at 11. Maybe it’s a confidence thing because I haven’t grown up playing there. I feel I need to be closer to the ball whereas on the wing you might finish off a couple of tries, you might get a run-in, but you don’t touch the ball as often as you want or to make as many tackles”.
Earls knows that the summer signings of James Downey and Casey Laulala will put pressure on Rob Penney to make a call in the centres.
Earls is prepared to fight for the spot however.
“I spoke to Rob and let him know the position I prefer and he sees me as a 13 as well. Obviously, though, I’m not going to play every game for Munster just as Casey and James aren’t either. Danny Barnes, Ivan Dinneen and a couple of other lads are there and I’m sure it will be mix and match again like last year. But he knows 13 is my favourite position even if at times we might have to adjust. You can’t be that selfish when it comes to a team and Rob said he’d do his best without promising anything”.
Earls sees himself as becoming a senior player in the Munster set up, but is still willing to learn. Even from a former Munster legend.
“There was a time when I was happy to have a jersey. I was learning the game. I’ve learned a lot from people like Rua Tipoki who was one of our best foreign signings. I met him in New Zealand. He was so intelligent and came up with his own ideas. It’s not always me playing 13, I don’t mind playing 12. Responsibility, decision making and organising around me is what I want.”
Munster kick off their new season on Friday week, August 10 with a friendly in La Rochelle, before returning home to face Bristol Rugby on August 17 in Musgrave Park.
Keith Earls was speaking at the launch of the new Munster Rugby alternative kit, which was held at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort.
The techonix coloured jersey is inscribed in collegiate red with ancient Ogham wording translated as ‘Redness’ and available online @ http://store.munsterrugby.ie/home.php and in store from all leading sports retailers nationwide from August 9. Fans can pre order it from the Munster Rugby Store from July 27th.
The new kit also features the latest in adidas performance technologies, including Climacool, Rugby specific ForMotion and Techfit Powerweb.
