European Player of the Year Rob Kearney looks unlikely to be fit for Leinster’s clash with Cardiff Blues this weekend, but insists he’ll be back for the November Internationals next month.
Kearney has missed both of the reigning champions’ Heineken Cup encounters so far and has only played a half an hour of rugby all season after hurting his back in his only outing against Connacht in the Sportsground.
The Louth native is nearly ready to return but this weekend’s Rabo 12 meeting with Cardiff Blues is likely to come too soon, with the game against Ospreys the following week looking like a more realistic return date for the full-back ahead of the international clashes with South Africa, Argentina and Fiji next month.
It’s hardly optimal preparation for Kearney, but for a man who had hardly any rugby under his belt before having a stormer at the World Cup last year, he’s not unduly bothered.
“In an ideal world, you would like to get a couple of games under your belt, but I’m not going to be too fazed by it,” Kearney is quoted as saying in The Irish Independent.
“I came back into an international before the World Cup after being out for nine months and it went okay, so it is something I have done before.
“While ideally I’d be able to get a few games under my belt, if that’s not the case then we don’t live in a perfect world.”
We promise that the headline in this piece will be the last association between Rob and Wyclef Jean, unless he ever decides to pull a similar pose to the ridiculous one struck by the singer on his motorbike last week.
Don’t do it Rob!
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