Winger Earls is up to speed

KEITH EARLS is up and running, and for a player with his pace that’s a frightening prospect for opposition defences.

It took time to get there but the Ireland wing feels both he and his team are ready to burst onto the World Cup stage, starting tomorrow with the United States. August was a difficult month with nothing tangible to show for it in terms of results as Declan Kidney’s men went down to defeat four Saturdays in succession. Yet the way Earls and many of this Irish World Cup squad view it, pre-season did exactly what it said on the tin and all that matters will be the next four games as Ireland bid to progress out of Pool C.

August was a time of mix and match, for trying new combinations and getting players match fit for the important business of qualifying for the quarter-finals here in New Zealand. And Earls, who turns 24 on October 2, the day Ireland play their final pool game against Italy in Dunedin, believes he and Ireland are exactly where they want to be and that August will quickly be forgotten. For the Munster back that also means erasing the disappointment of the final warm-up against England, when he stood in again for the injured Brian O’Driscoll and was caught out in defence by a rampaging Manu Tuilagi.