Keith Earls ready for next chapter of his rugby career

They don’t look great odds for a player with World Cup ambitions. You’re one of eight wingers in the Ireland squad, the only one not to have played a Test for the current coach.

Yet Keith Earls is not only optimistic for his chances of making Joe Schmidt’s 31-man squad, the Munster back feels he is on the brink of an exciting second chapter in an international career that has stalled since March 2013.

Injuries have stymied his ambitions since, but the 27-year-old finally has a chance to convince Schmidt he is worth a place, starting, he hopes, this Saturday against Wales in Cardiff.