IRFU’s improved approach to contract negotiations impresses Kearney

Ireland full-back Rob Kearney believes the swift way in which his new three-year IRFU contract was resolved can only benefit the national team if his team-mates get the same treatment.

Kearney’s deal, which will keep him & at Leinster until 2018, was announced yesterday having been agreed four weeks ago, according to the 28-year-old.

The speed in which the negotiation process was carried out was in stark contrast to his previous IRFU deal, a two-year contract that expires this June but which only got over the line midway through the 2013 Six Nations.