Rob Kearney not fearing Irish exodus

Rob Kearney has rejected suggestions that Paul O’Connell’s switch from Munster to Toulon will kickstart a trend of senior Ireland internationals ending their careers in the financially flush Top 14.

Kearney was the focus of some interest from French sides some years ago when his contract with Leinster and the IRFU was up for renewal.

Ultimately, it was some seasons later before Jonathan Sexton breached protocol by switching from Leinster to Racing Metro in a move considered ground-breaking at the time but less so now that he has returned to his home province for the 2015/16 season.

Kearney is now chairman of the Irish Rugby Union Players Association (IRUPA), and it was put to him yesterday that a move such as O’Connell’s would be an increasingly attractive one for those players who have achieved so much for so long, but feel in need of a new challenge before retirement.

“I don’t think so. Paul was very definite that after the World Cup he wanted to retire from international rugby. The biggest thing a player can regret for the rest of their lives is if they thought their body was still in good enough shape to give your career one or two more years.

“It’s brilliant for him. All the players are delighted for him and to see that he still has that huge amount of hunger for it at 35 years of age - it’s quite inspiring in some regards.

Inspiration is something Leinster could do with come the start of next season when Kearney and so many more of his clubmates will be away on World Cup duty and a callow squad under the guidance of Leo Cullen and a similarly unproven staff look to hold the fort.

Cullen and company have been appointed on an interim basis since the departure of head coach Matt O’Connor. His time at the helm came to a premature end after the failure to secure a play-off place in the PRO12.

Kearney clearly believes the club lost its focus. “Last year we probably moved away from some aspects of our culture. That seemed to diminish a bit. Leo’s huge strength is that he’s a Leinster man through and through. He understands what it took during those tough years to get us from a team of nearlies (sic) to be an achieving team in Europe.”

Understandably, he was asked to expand on his remark about culture.

“I just think we were in and out a little bit. We had a few injuries. Matt spoke a little bit about it as well. Having players coming in and out of the environment with younger guys maybe not stepping up and taking on the leadership and putting the onus on them as much as they should have.

“Small little things like that that can be improved on next year.”

That makes this World Cup period particularly interesting. “There will be a very front end of seven weeks where they’ll have a huge amount of work to do themselves. The guys back there in camp realise how important those first seven weeks are going to be to determining the rest of our season. And that’s a massive focus for them.”

• The knee injury suffered by Simon Zebo whilst training with Ireland has been described as nothing more than a “ding” by team sources.

The Munster wing picked up the knock during the team’s training session in Galway yesterday.