Steering his rugby charges in the right direction

It’s as if he’s always been the ideal backup to the stars.

Well before Simon Keogh sat alongside IRUPA chairman Rob Kearney in his own role as full-time operations manager and head legal advisor to the players union, he was often cover to Kearney and the rest of the most talented backline in European club rugby.

Only this past week Kearney and Jamie Heaslip found themselves reflecting on the similarities between today’s showdown against Bath and another nerve-tingling European Cup quarter-final from six years ago. So pivotal was Leinster’s 6-5 win over Harlequins in The Stoop that a photograph from it prominently features on the wall where those game management meetings take place.