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Two-year Ian Keatley deal at Benetton is terminated early

12 Jan 2021

(Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Former Ireland international Ian Keatley is finished at Benetton, the Italian PRO14 club leaving him out of the team since early December and now deciding to bring to an early conclusion what was supposed to be a two-year deal. The out-half joined the Italians in 2019 from Munster via a pit-stop with London Irish while they were chasing promotion from the Championship back into the Gallagher Premiership.

He went on to make 19 appearances for the club but hasn’t featured since a December 4 defeat at Connacht, that loss being one of nine in Benetton’s hapless PRO14 campaign which sees them rooted to the bottom of Conference B less than two years after they came within a late penalty whisker of beating Munster in a quarter-final play-off in Limerick.

La Tribuna di Treviso have reported that the club have now ‘divorced’ from Kealey who hasn’t been training with a squad whose season got worse in recent weeks with back-to-back derby defeats to country rivals Zebre.

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A report read: “It thundered so much that it rained. The unprecedented crisis of Benetton and the disastrous PRO14, winless in nine matches and with only four skimpy bonus points, has produced the first shock: Ian Keatley, the former Munster/Ireland out-half, is no longer part of the squad.

“He has not trained for days, having reached an agreement with the club for the early termination of the contract. His performance was deemed ‘inadequate’ by the club… and there was talk of a finished feeling between the player and head coach (Kieran) Crowley.

'I gave quarter of my life to Munster Rugby and just to leave so quickly.' @iankeatley on the 3 days that changed his rugby life – in conversation with @heagneyl ??? https://t.co/Hfz6OzK5pp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 3, 2019

“Called to Treviso to act as a guide to the younger players, and especially in times of difficulty, Keatley has never given the impression that he could be the player with such characteristics. Everything this season has been very bad for him, hence the decision of the cut.”

Capped seven times by Ireland, the last appearance coming in a November 2017 win over Fiji, Keatley turns 34 in April and could potentially be a target of Glasgow who have been chasing an out-half and reportedly expressed an interest in Ben Healey, the 21-year-old who has made the breakthrough at Munster this season.

Rob Kearney has spent his entire club life at Irish outfit Leinster, but the star fullback jumped at the chance to experience something new when the Force came knocking in August. #SuperRugby https://t.co/HCPWJSIj9H
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 12, 2021

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Spew_81 57 minutes ago

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Love should get some time at 10. He’s clearly got the ability to be a second playmaker, but primarily at 15. Some time at 10, even just standing at first receiver, will only help his playmaking skills. He set up two tries with good distribution.

He kicks goals well. He could be a second B Barrett. But keep his main position at 15.

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England have absolutely no need for him. Tom Willis and Ben Earl are better with a much higher work rate.

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Yes I mean I wouldn’t really know the local ratio of origin here, but certainly as a province with less resources mine has a ratio that veers heavily towards club rep. The club stories are often the best so get probably an imbalanced proportion of coverage to where most players actually come from though.

Those were a couple of Ulster (regional) clubs too, good good. Those clubs/size towns are very much where you find most talent coming from (compared to the big city), so your productivity depends very much on your systems in place for scouting talent. With the more wealthy and popular sport of NRL (hence more info out there) I’ve seen some interesting studies on player origins in this respect, which I think would be a very balanced base of data to draw conclusions from.

Yes I’m wondering how those names as examples compare to the likes of Bryne getting squeezed out for a lack of places. I’m only thinking of effects far down the line as a result of Irelands #1 ranking and increased publicity/interest and how Irelands system will take advantage of them.

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Andrew Nichols 2 hours ago

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Gloucester are in the market for a top-class replacement ..Well why would they then be talking to HS?

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Utiku Old Boy 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

I include Cunningham-South. He was born in England but moved to NZ at 4 yrs and learnt his rugby there. His dad was a schoolboy coach. In recent years, Teimana Harrison was - as was Brad Shields.

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GB 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Cunningham-South was born in the UK but raised in NZ.

Makes a good point, wouldn't walk into the English set up.

Better to roll his sleeves up and play himself into the ABs

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

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Not sure what the ethical issue is. If it’s going for the money, it’s either do that or NZ rugby slowly dies as all the better players leave. So it’s the more lesser of two evils. Sell out a bit more as a Union, or the players sell out one by one.

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Yes, the team was similar. But the two locks made a huge difference. Kaino wasn’t a lock and Tuipolutu has only very recently started playing close to his potential (his work rate was terrible until recently).

The Irish lineout maul wouldn’t have been the weapon it was on that day if Hansen started Whitelock and Retallick (or even two proper locks). Though they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

Doing the new haka when the Irish were mourning a great of theirs didn’t help. The action at the end of that haka has been interpreted negatively and some see it as a but disrespectful.

Still if the All Blacks did their normal haka they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

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Koro Teeps 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Absolutely no certainty he would make the current English squad. He’s not in the All Black conversation either. Physical, explosive player with ball in hand but sometimes struggles to impose himself fully on all aspects of the game.

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DC 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Who are the Kiwis (plural)? The only one I can think of is Ethan Root.

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Gradier Walter 4 hours ago

Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders