Kearney’s cool running is the perfect fit for leggy Leinster
When CEO Mick Dawson started scouring the globe for a man to replace Declan Kidney, it was only going to be a matter of time before his eye fell on the Randwick club in suburban Sydney an outpost long renowned for it's almost Barbarian devotion to running rugby.
Michael Cheika and David Knox had resurrected the club's ailing fortunes, in recent years, and it didn't take long for Leinster officials to realise that here were two men who could do wonders with the Irish province's richly talented back line.
The result has been some sublime running rugby from Leinster, but their progress has been hamstrung by an inability to perfect set-piece play or eliminate a proliferation of needless and ultimately costly errors.
Last weekend, for instance, it was three defensive mistakes rather than any great innovation from Bourgoin that coughed up three tries for the French side.
"Very few teams play like we do in the European Cup Toulouse, Leicester maybe on a good day," said winger Kearney. "If we can master it we can go far. It's a very enjoyable style of rugby.
"The home game against Bourgoin the week before was a bit of an eye opener for us because it showed us that we could really play that expansive style of rugby."
That day, Leinster showcased their growing potential behind the scrum with a devastating seven-try evisceration of the French side at the RDS, but Cheika has always asked for judgement of his side to be withheld until a day when they were firmly on the back foot.
That day came last Saturday as Leinster found themselves 27-13 down against Bourgoin.
Although they lost by two points, Cheika and Kearney were hugely encouraged by their reaction to adversity.
"We got together under the posts when we went 14 points down and Keith Gleeson said a few words, about how all we had to do was get a score back to bring us back into the game," said Kearney, "We scored a try fairly soon after and then another."
"We have a lot of confidence in each other. We're confident with throwing the ball around and it was good that we were able to continue doing that even when we were a bit behind on the scoreboard."
Kearney has benefited from the new no-holds barred approach more than most. Still only 19, the former Louth football minor has scored six tries in 12 games this year, three of them in Europe.
In the home game against Bourgoin, he scored two exquisite individual touch downs that drew comparisons with Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll. When Denis Hickie returns from injury, it won't be Kearney moving aside to accommodate the Ireland winger.
"I was still in the Academy at the start of the year and my goal was to be involved in the senior squad in some shape or form, so I'm delighted with how the season has gone.
"It could be easy to be overwhelmed by the situation, but there's some fantastic players here and that makes it easier to settle in.
"The more I play, the more confidence I get. I feel myself growing in confidence with every game I play. Our wingers are involved a lot in the games as the stats and videos show and that's a credit to the style of play we have."
Given his form and potential, it's surprising that Kearney has not had more involvement with the senior Irish set-up, but he bats away questions about this week's international training camp in Lanzarote with the poise of an old pro.
"I would like to be there. It's nice and sunny over there and I could do with topping up my tan," is his only response, spoken with his tongue firmly in cheek.
For now, with Ulster on St Stephen's Day and Munster on New Year's Eve, Kearney has more than enough on his plate. Not that he's complaining about that either.
"I've been aiming to play rugby on Stephen's Day for years now so I'm not going to start complaining about it now that it's happening."
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