Keep the faith, Rob Kearney tells fans

Rob Kearney has urged Ireland’s supporters to stick with the team as they strive to finally click into top gear for the last two games of this season’s RBS 6 Nations.

Ireland go into their remaining fixtures at the Aviva Stadium against Italy on March 12 and Scotland a week later still seeking their first win of the championship, the defending champions having drawn with Wales in Dublin and then lost in Paris and London.

Saturday’s 21-10 defeat by England at Twickenham has left Ireland struggling in fifth place in the Six Nations standings, but the full-back believes he and his team-mates came agonisingly close to making they came agonisingly close to making the breakthrough. Debutant Josh van der Flier was denied a try by the TMO that he thought he had grounded, while a last-ditch Jack Nowell tackle on Robbie Henshaw stopped another score as Ireland once again failed to convert the chances they created.