Both men were Lions in 2009 and 2013.
Rob Kearney appears to have held off the competition for another Six Nations championship. He is Joe Schmidt’s No.15, when fit, and he is on course to reach 100 Test caps by the 2019 World Cup.
Andrew Conway, Simon Zebo, Jared Payne and Tiernan O’Halloran have all had run-outs at fullback. Joey Carbery was tipped to be Kearney’s next big threat, then Jordan Larmour.
Still, he remains.
Shane Williams is a big fan. The Welsh rugby legend joined The Hard Yards and [from 16:00 below] helped preview the upcoming Six Nations fixtures. Williams had just finished highlighting how big a threat Kearney would be to Wales when he was asked about criticism the Leinster star receives.
Williams’ reaction, and his comments on Kearney, tell you how highly rated he is by Wales.
“Ireland have started to fire now,” said Williams. “They were very clinical against Italy, with Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton pulling the strings and Keith Earls playing really well. They are starting to look like a real unit.
Williams’ eyebrows raised, sitting beside me in the studio, when I informed him that Kearney often receives flak, on these shores, for a perceived dulling of his attacking powers. He has not scored a try in 14 Tests and his last score for Leinster was against Glasgow in September 2016 but his Leinster and Ireland coaches still turn to him for big games.
Williams commented:
“Knowing Rob and what kind of player he is – having playing alongside him and against him – he’s very good.
“The same was done with Leigh Halfpenny. He was criticised for not being attacking-minded enough. And then when he’s not playing they are saying, ‘Ah, we should have had Leigh Halfpenny playing because he’s one of the best, defensively, out there’. He scored two tries against Scotland there as well [his first Test tries in five years].
“It’s the same with Rob. He’s got fellas like Keoth Earls and guys like that around him scoring tries. But defensively and positionally, he’s one of the best out there.
“He is one of these fellas that whatever direction you kick the ball, Rob always seems to be under the high ball. And this is the stuff you don’t see. Because he’s got into position because he has moved early and covered so much ground. That’s a sign of a good fullback – that the ball doesn’t touch the grass. And it doesn’t touch the grass very often with Rob.Â
“Defensively, he is one of the best out there, and probably what some people don’t realise is that he covers a lot of ground and makes a lot of yards with ball-in-hand.
“We don’t hear so much of Rob being criticised and we respect him a lot in Wales. We know he is a very good player. Having played against him, he is one of those guys who you say, ‘Right, keep the ball away from Rob in this game. Keep the ball on the ground so he has to chase back’. But 9 times out of 10, he is there to catch that ball. He’ll be a big part of any success Ireland have at the weekend.”
High praise indeed from one if the best players Wales have produced in the past three decades.
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