Keith Earls is Darren Sweetnam’s advice centre

The sight of Keith Earls hunting down Italy full-back Matteo Minozzi in the final minutes of a game already done and dusted has had everyone purring, and Darren Sweetnam has thrown in his praise, calling his Munster team-mate’s skills, pace and commitment “outrageous”.

Earls capped a fine try-scoring performance for Ireland last Saturday in the 56-19 Six Nations victory with a whole-hearted chase of Italy’s rising full-back star Minozzi to prevent the Azzurri from gaining a try bonus point.

It was in the dying moments of a game which had seen Earls, 30, bring up Ireland’s bonus point five minutes before half-time.