Keith Earls happy to play the father figure at Munster with ambitious new generation

He will soon be the last link to the Munster heroes of 2008 but Keith Earls has learned to leave the glory days behind and join an ambitious new generation eager to forge their own path in Europe.

Earls is still only 29 but his Munster experience goes back to a senior debut almost a decade ago in October 2007, and a first taste of European action as an unused replacement in the 2008 Heineken Cup final win over Toulouse.

Donnacha Ryan will be the only other Munster man on duty this weekend to have shared in that great day in Cardiff and the lock, also an unused sub, will soon be departing for pastures new .

Earls has made the effort to burn that bridge in the company of his current team-mates and to look forward with the younger guns.

That objective continues this Saturday, of course, when Munster attempt to reach their first Champions Cup final by beating defending champions Saracens in Dublin and Earls has learned to go with the new flow, not try and persuade others to change to the old way.

“If anything, they have helped me,” Earls said. “I thought I probably had to be like the older lads. I suppose when I came into the group first I was young for a couple of years. Conor (Murray) and the lads… I broke through in 2007/08 and Conor and (Mike) Sherry and the boys broke through in 2011 and I had to be in a squad with men that were having kids for a couple of years and I got mature quite early at a young age.

“I learned a lot off the Rogs and the Paulies and the Dougies but the lads who have come in have brought me back down to my age nearly and I’m a lot more relaxed and I’m enjoying it. The younger lads need a kick up the arse every now and then but they still have to drive standards every now and then because they are a different breed.

“They’re still tough, hard men, but they know how to switch off. Even before going into a meeting, someone can be running off, then we get in here and they’re switched on. It’s a lot more relaxed. I don’t know how to describe it; fellas aren’t on edge 24/7, probably on edge when we’re in the centre, when we’re on the field we still kill each other, when we’re in meetings we’ll have a go off each other, but in general it’s a good balance we have.”

Earls has clearly done some maturing himself in the intervening years and recognises the generational shifts.

“It’s definitely a lot more mellow, from 10 years ago, they were made of hard stuff years ago, different stuff should I say... it’s gas, and I get to see both sides.

“I suppose with the amount of rugby I’d played, I had to adapt my training, gym-wise, and adapt as a man, becoming a father. I’m loving every minute, of everything at the moment, I’ve definitely found a good balance in my life, whereas years ago it would have been all rugby, but now I’m gone more to the other side; I’m a father, I’m a husband, then I’m a rugby player, that’s something I’ve picked up on the last 18 months.”

Saturday will be the province’s fifth semi-final since that 2008 victory took their Heineken Cup tally to two and Earls started in each of the four previous ones, in 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2014, all of them defeats.

This one, however, feels different. It comes after two seasons of failure, Munster failing to get out of their pool in 2015 and ’16 and the pressing of the reset button by incoming director of rugby Rassie Erasmus in tandem with the rise of a younger guard spearheaded by captain Peter O’Mahony, scrum-half Conor Murray, and equally inspirational back row CJ Stander.

For Earls, the struggle has made the achievements of this season all the more satisfying.

“It was a tough place to be in, trying to qualify for this tournament never mind being in a semi-final this week. You always had your people who would support you but it’s gone through the roof again, flags everywhere and there’s red everywhere and everyone’s looking for signed jerseys and it’s brilliant for Munster and the lads who played in the past to see this crop of lads keep things going.

“I think it’s massively satisfying the pressure that was on us last year the pressure that was on the coaches, it wasn’t one bit nice and the way we’ve grown I think as senior players and as a group it’s massive.

“If I was sitting here five or six years ago, I’d never have thought I would have been a senior player, not in motivating fellas but getting fellas going for a semi-final and I’m here now at age 29 and it’s great to be here and it’s our group and squad and it’s nothing got to do with fellas from 10 years ago so there’s great satisfaction in that we’re stepping up and doing what they’ve done.”