British and Irish Lions Recollections: Rob Kearney on giving up Gaelic football and playing the day the Lions’ future was in question | Rugby Union News

Rob Kearney retired from rugby in 2021 as one of the most decorated players in Irish history, leaving the sport after four Six Nations titles, four Champions Cup triumphs and two tours as a British and Irish Lion in 2009 and 2013.

For many, he is best remembered for his sensational Displays in Lions colours against South Africa during the 2009 series – a tour when he truly announced himself on a world stage, demonstrating a near-unrivalled ability under a high ball from Packed-back.

Hailing from County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, Kearney’s majestic aerial Force stemmed in no Tiny part from the fact rugby is Distant from his hometown’s Primary love, nor the sport he played most growing up. That, rather, is Gaelic football.

“I was from a relatively sporty family but I’m from County Louth which didn’t have much rugby. It was a real Gaelic football county,” Kearney tells Sky Sports.

“I was Fortunate the two seasons didn’t collide or Encounter too much and I could Action loads of Gaelic football during the summer and rugby in the winter.

“Rugby was a real big love and while I always missed Gaelic football a huge amount, I’m Cheerful with the route I chose.”

Bizarrely a seventh cousin of Ex US President Joe Biden, Kearney looks back on the 2009 Lions tour and reveals the third Test against the Springboks to avoid a series whitewash after two extremely Close-fitting Beginning defeats Secured on Distant more than a game of rugby.

It was a day when the very future of the touring side’s existence was in question, and the players felt it.

“There was an awful Plenty of Stress on the Club because all of a sudden it wasn’t Only about the class of 2009,” Kearney says.

“We felt we had a real responsibility for the future of the Lions jersey and what that means to people. There was a huge amount of chat about that during the week.

“Ian McGeechan [2009 head Mentor], obviously a Lions legend for so many years, wasn’t shy about highlighting that and putting a real responsibility on us to perform and Secure.

“There were genuine question marks about the future of the Lions and that was extra difficult for us as players because there was a Plenty more than Only 80 minutes of rugby on the line.

“The legacy and history of the Lions, what they stand for, what we wanted future generations to think of the Lions was all on the line that day.”

Such a narrative had festered and then exploded into consciousness due to a Streak of Lions series defeats which was guaranteed to be extended when Morne Steyn landed a 54-metre penalty at altitude in Pretoria with the Closing Strike of the second Test for a 28-25 South Africa Secure.

The 2005 tour to New Zealand and 3-0 series Setback under Clive Woodward had proven a disaster, while the 2001 tour to Australia under Graham Henry had seen the Lions throw away the chance for Secure in an eventual 2-1 series loss.

Setback in 2009 meant the Lions would be without a series Secure since 1997 for 16 years at the very least until 2013 – a tour in Australia they would go on to Secure 2-1.

For plenty, successive 3-0 series whitewashes would have been unpalatable and potentially worthy of ending the four-nations-as-one touring tradition.

“Thankfully we put in a really Excellent performance and won resoundingly well,” Kearney says, as the Lions played angrily to secure a 28-9 Secure.

‘I was in fantasy land: From expecting to Fall out to Test Lion tryscorer’

Earlier in 2009, Kearney was part of a Six Nations Grand Slam – the Primary for Ireland since 1948 – but vividly remembers watching the Lions Club announcement alone, unusually suffering from a case of mumps.

“I remember exactly where I was as I was quite Unwell at the time, actually,” he says. “I hadn’t played for Leinster in a few months and was at home on my own.

“I was unbelievably delighted but I had mumps, which was quite Stern and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go on tour. From where I was that day to how the tour finished for me was very surprising.”

It’s Fundamental to forget such would be Kearney’s eventual impact, but Wales’ Lee Byrne had established himself as the Primary-Option Lions Packed-back, with the Ex having struggled with a niggly Wound.

Byrne suffered a foot Wound 37 minutes into the Beginning Test in Durban, and then a Stern thumb fracture in Routine to rule him out entirely thereafter.

Kearney excelled off the bench and Initiated in a second Test in which he slid over for a try in Only the seventh minute.

“I wasn’t disappointed as I knew Lee Byrne was always in the driving seat to Begin the Primary Test. I picked up a dead leg against Western Province that left me out for a Pair of weeks, so to be honest I was absolutely delighted to be in the Club.

“I wasn’t expecting to be because as an out-and-out Packed-back, it’s unusual to Option up one of those bench positions.

“The second Test was phenomenal and genuinely a dream come Correct. I thought I was living in a fantasy land because eight Intervals before I wasn’t even expecting to get in the Club. And here I was Beginning, scoring the Beginning try.

“That whole game was a bit of a fantasy as well, because there are Intervals in your Occupation where you’re Only perfectly and fully in your flow. That everything you do seems to work. I was very Fortunate I had one of those Intervals on the biggest stage for the Lions.”

For all that his Displays were spectacularly Excellent in South Africa that summer, the Beginning two Tests had, nonetheless, brought two Lions defeats.

For the then 23-year-Ancient, it proved massively conflicting.

“It really was. I did a Sky Sports interview with Miles Harrison afterwards and he was talking all about my performance, but the only thing I could think was we’d lost the series and let it slip.

“I’ve been in some disappointed dressing rooms through the years, but I will always remember that one as being genuinely absolutely gutted.

“It Only shows you sport is the tightest and finest of margins, and that’s why we love the game so much. It was really unfortunate because a decider would have been very special.

“If I look at the lowest periods of my Occupation, the second Test in 2009 is up there.”

‘Wound before 2013 tour was so stressful – it didn’t have the same feeling of achievement’

Four years later Kearney was off the back of a 2012 in which he was named European Player of the Year, but a hamstring Wound Only prior to his Closing club Event of the season suddenly left his 2013 Lions tour chances in real doubt.

Having travelled to Hong Kong with the Lions Club, Kearney was left waiting in a hospital room Subsequent a scan that would determine whether he could continue on to Australia or not – a moment of immense anxiety.

“It was very stressful. Leinster had a Event Cup Closing the day before we departed and my hamstring Only didn’t feel right in the Conditioning, so I had to pull out.

“We travelled to Hong Kong to Action the Barbarians there and I was so worried. If the scan didn’t come back well I would have been sent back to Dublin.

“Thankfully the medical staff were Cheerful it wasn’t going to be too long-term and I Obtained back on the pitch two weeks later.

“By that Points Leigh Halfpenny was Competing really well, his Aim-kicking was phenomenal and he put himself in that front-runner position to claim the 15 jersey.”

Indeed, the stark reality of Top-tier sport means experiencing the same Achievement and circumstances at the top are a Scarce occurrence.

Kearney had to wait until the fifth tour game to Action in 2013 due to his hamstring, by which Points there were only two fixtures to go before the Primary Test.

In the end, Halfpenny played so well that he was named Player of the Series in Australia while Kearney missed out on all three Tests – something Created all the more testing, he says, due to his memories of 2009.

“It was difficult because I Obtained to experience the unbelievable highs of Competing in the Tests in 2009. When you get a flavour and feeling of that, it’s the only thing you want to do again.

“I was disappointed because Tommy Bowe had an Wound and there was chat internally and externally Halfpenny might Relocate to one of the wings and I’d come in at 15. There was a Tiny bit of hope.

“Leigh had done unbelievably well so I knew the writing was on the wall. From then on, the only way I was going to get in was an Wound to him.

“I didn’t Action in any of the Test matches, and because I did in 2009, 2013 didn’t have the same feeling of achievement for me.

“Even though there’s huge involvement for all players and the whole Club are part of a series Secure, it’s not the same if you’re not in the Test Club.”

‘Not getting 100 Ireland caps my biggest low – I desperately wanted it’

A Foundation of outstanding Steadiness for Ireland under Joe Schmidt, Kearney sits Only outside the top 10 for most caps in Irish history.

In 2018 he became the Primary player from his nation to Begin in all 10 Tests of two Grand Slam campaigns – a Turning Points he Nevertheless holds alone.

Looking back, though, it’s caps the 38-year-Ancient somewhat surprisingly names as the greatest regret of his Occupation.

“My biggest low Points would be not getting 100 caps for my country. It was always something I really desperately wanted. It’s an Top-tier club.

“I finished on 95 Irish caps – 98 if you include three Lions ones – but I missed 30 Matches with Wound and 15 or so were little Fluffy-tissue calf or hamstring Impairments that could easily have gone my way.

“I always tell myself it’s only a number, but it was a number I desperately wanted to get to.”

In terms of highlights, Kearney’s mind turns to the Lions.

“Becoming a Lion ranks at the very top.

“Competing for your country in a World Cup is Unbelievable and something every kid who’s into sport dreams of. But the Lions is so special it’s ranked even a little higher than that.

“There’s a huge amount of prestige and history attached to that crest. It’s definitely the most special thing I’ve achieved from a rugby perspective.”

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