Kearney: Irish injury misfortune ‘bizarre’

Rob Kearney has described the injury plague that bedeviled Ireland’s Six Nations campaign as the worst he has ever experienced, joking the casualty count was so high, a sniper might have been at work.

The horrible denouement against Italy, where back-rower Peter O’Mahony ended on the wing, such were the enforced departures, was a dreaded nadir.

That’s saying something, given they had already considered themselves at rock bottom with Jonathan Sexton, Paul O’Connell, Tommy Bowe, Simon Zebo, Gordon D’Arcy, Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry, Richardt Strauss and Eoin Reddan amongst those already ruled out by then.

Declan Kidney’s future as national head coach seems to be very much in doubt but Kearney insists the mood in the camp was good and game-plans and moves were working perfectly on the training paddock.

They weren’t executing on match day but with players falling like pins at a bowling alley, he isn’t surprised. In the end, he admits it was almost a relief just to survive the carnage.

“In the space of 10 minutes [in Rome] we had a sin bin and three injuries — it was just bizarre,” recalled Kearney yesterday.

“You just felt like you were in comedy movie in Hollywood or something. Mixed emotions really, especially given how things just continued to get worse, from an injury perspective.

“Sometimes you just can’t explain these things. Look at England, they had very few injuries. Comparing this year — our worst finishing year in some time — to four years ago when we won the Grand Slam, the stark contrast between the two.

“This year we used 36 players, that year it was 22. There wasn’t one injury whereas this year you could make a team out of the injuries.

“It seemed as if there were snipers at every game taking people out left, right and centre. When you are in the situation where you are avoiding that, you say: ‘thank God for this’. You look at the guys who have been taken out by the snipers and say it’s awful luck.”

While he doesn’t come out with an outright vote of confidence in Kidney (decisions on management and coaching appointments aren’t players to make, he says), Kearney is adamant Ireland were well prepared and fortune did not favour them after the opening round victory over Wales.

“The frustrating thing for me is that we trained really well as a team and it was a happy place throughout the tournament. We just weren’t able to go out on the weekend and prove that.

“From a coaching perspective, it’s very difficult when you’re losing so many guys to injury, and unfortunately Ireland is a small country and we can’t cope with losing so any players, we just don’t have enough people playing the game for us to do that.

“We haven’t got what we deserved in the competition and that’s unfair. It’s bad luck as well.”

Meanwhile, he remains hopeful of getting the nod from Warren Gatland for the Lions tour to Australia, even though the likes of Stuart Hogg and Alex Goode have entered the equation alongside Kearney and Leigh Halfpenny in recent weeks with strong performances.

Having played just seven full games since Ireland’s third Test in New Zealand last summer due to a back injury, Kearney expects that there is much improvement in the tank. He suspects — and hopes — that Gatland and co will look at overall CVs when considering their selection.

A strong finish for Leinster wouldn’t harm his chances nonetheless, even if the Blues aren’t involved in the Heineken Cup. There will be extra focus on Joe Schmidt’s men as the season comes to a close because of the speculation surrounding whether or not Brian O’Driscoll will retire.

Kearney is certain the celebrated centre should play on and has told his club and international colleague as much. Not that he expects that to influence the call.

“He’s keeping his cards pretty close to him. Of course it will be his decision. I think what his friends and colleagues say won’t have a huge amount of bearing on him.

“But it’s clear for everyone to see that there’s still a bit left in the tank. So I just hope he doesn’t make a decision he’s gonna regret. If he thinks ‘I was in good shape, I was feeling pretty good, could I have given it one more year?’ I suppose that’s gonna be the big decision he’s gonna have to make.

“I have told him too. Whether it goes in one ear and out the other [I don’t know].”

nRob Kearney was speaking at the launch of the GUI National Golf Academy’s Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Skills Challenge for 2013. Entry is free and details are available at www.learntogolf.ie.