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Sean O'Brien may have let the cat of bag over Rob Kearney's next move

Ireland and Leinster full-back Rob Kearney (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Ireland and Leinster full-back Rob Kearney’s playing future has been subject of plenty of speculation with his IRFU contract due to expire at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

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Kearney has been almost ever-present in the number 15 jersey with Ireland during the Joe Schmidt era, however he wasn’t selected for Ireland’s Six Nations opener with England based on his form after returning from injury, with Robbie Henshaw selected instead.

The 33-year-old did return for Ireland’s next game against Scotland and retained the jersey for the rest of the Championship, bar his late withdrawal due to injury in the penultimate game against France.

The presence of Jordan Larmour has also put him under pressure at club and international level, with the the 21-year-old selected at full-back for Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Ulster, but Kearney did manage to win back the shirt for the semi-final victory over Toulouse.

Last week Kearney said that discussions with the IRFU were “slow”, adding “they’re progressing a little bit, but I’m not in a huge rush. I’m pretty content with where I’m at, I know that there will be something that I’ll be able to do,” he told the 42.

He also stated he’d ideally like to stay in Ireland, “That is the preference, but if that doesn’t happen and all parties aren’t happy – because Leinster are involved now obviously in it too – then maybe we’ll have to look abroad. But that is not the preference at the moment.

“Certainly, the fire is still very much burning at Leinster and Ireland.”

But a picture and caption in an Instagram story by Sean O’Brien at Leinster’s awards ball on Sunday has increased speculation over Kearney’s future. The backrow posted “Best of luck in France chieftain been a pleasure”.

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Sean O’Brien’s Instagram story from the Leinster awards ball on Sunday night

O’Brien, Jack McGrath, Noel Reid, Mick Kearney, Nick McCarthy, Ian Nagle and Tom Daly are all confirmed to depart Leinster at the end of the season.

O’Brien is moving to London Irish, McGrath joining Ulster, while Noel Reid has signed for Leicester.

You may also like: Ulster’s Jordi Murphy discusses life after Leinster and the motives behind his move north.

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'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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