Contemplative Earls admits it’s good to talk

Here’s a thought. Keith Earls has featured in almost three-quarters of the 50 games in which Declan Kidney has held the reigns for Ireland and yet the man from Moyross hasn’t played more than four-in-a-row with the same number on his back.

That goes a long way to explaining why Earls has yet to solidify his place in the first XV five years after his debut against Canada at Thomond Park and four since playing five times and scoring twice for the British and Irish Lions in South Africa. He has managed that four-game streak three times in all, most recently during the last Six Nations when he deputised for Brian O’Driscoll at 13. His previous two residencies in the team for that length of time came while stationed on the left wing.

And therein lies the rub.

The majority of his appearances have come at eleven which he will carry again tomorrow against Scotland but he has also worn 12 and 15 as well as 13 and the dreaded 23 which he bore earlier this month against Wales and England. It would have been no surprise to see him handed the back-up role again this weekend such is his ability to cover so many bases, but it was intriguing to hear him claim earlier this week that he never even contemplated being left on the bench.

That is the new Keith Earls speaking.

Gone is the man who used to find comfort in superstitious rituals involving rosary beads and medals prior to games. These days, he might kill those interminable hours before kick-off shooting the breeze and acting the maggot but, then again, he might not and that is the point.

It all depends on the day and that in itself is progress.

“Still relaxed,” he says with a smile when asked if the old piseogs remain a thing of the past. “Completely gone. None of them have crept back. If anything I am starting to think more positively and I need that in my game.”

Earls has never been anything less than the most candid of interviewees. Disarmingly so. In a sport where macho is mandatory, the 25-year-old spoke this week about a lack of self-confidence which few sportspeople would contemplate and with a matter-of-factness that can only be admired.

It wasn’t always thus.

When Tony McGahan chucked him in for his first run of games with Munster it was with the instruction to go out and enjoy it and, for a while, he did. Then the big European games came along and with them the debates about his abilities and he began to hoard the negatives in the back of his mind.

Not anymore. These days he is one of the most enthusiastic of appointments on Enda McNulty’s busy schedule since the former Armagh footballer and motivational consultant was brought on board by Kidney but it isn’t the first time that Earls has found that it is good to talk.

“No, no. I have worked with Gerry Hussey for a couple of years as well. He is in with the Irish boxers as well and he was below with Munster. I like it. As Enda said, your confidence is like a muscle and you have to train that as well. Some fellas, Zebo and the like, just have it in bundles but it is just something I need to work on.”

He hasn’t been helped any by a lengthy run of what he labels “shitty injuries” that have kept him out for a few weeks here and a month there but even that is discussed with a smile and a sense of perspective born in part by the arrival of his first child, Ella May, this time last year.

The Ireland squad has enjoyed its own injection of youth this past four months of course, so much so that the still youthful Earls will be the third oldest Irish back starting tomorrow and with that comes the realisation and determination to be a more vocal presence.

“The communication on the back line these days means everyone is chatting to each other so we know where space is or gaps are or what options to take or whatever. We don’t get disconnected so we will all stick together.”

He spoke of a positive and buzzing back line after training on Wednesday and, in many ways, he could have been talking about himself.

Picture: INPHO