‘Huge Satisfaction’ For Kearney And Ireland
Commenting on the atmosphere in the dressing room after Ireland’s 34-13 victory over Scotland, try-scoring winger Rob Kearney said there was ‘hugh satisfaction’ amongst the players as they got back to winning ways in the championship.
In just his third Six Nations match, Rob Kearney managed to get over for his first international try to help Ireland on their way to a 14-6 interval lead at Croke Park. The Leinster flyer was solid under the high ball and defensively sound, particularly with that big left boot in his armoury.
Speaking after Saturday’s win, he agreed: “I think it was good for a personal and a collective performance. I was quite happy with it. I didn’t have to do very much with it (the try) – Brian (O’Driscoll), Ronan (O’Gara) and Geordan (Murphy) has some great pieces of play inside.
“Brian thread a peach of a pass and I was lucky to be on the end of it. I didn’t have much to do. Brian’s got a great distribution game and he put in on the money.”
The talented Louth man was particularly pleased to be able to show off glimpses of his excellent kicking game against the Scots and is already thinking about nabbing his second try in an Ireland jersey.
“Kicking…that’s a part of my game that I work quite hard on. Given that I have the left boot, it can give a team two options and I was happy to strike the ball well (today).
“To get your first try is a fantastic moment, I was very proud. To get the second is obviously where I’m heading now and it will probably be a bit harder.”
Despite running in five tries, Kearney and company know they still have plenty to work on to get themselves playing to their full potential.
But, particularly for a back-line that included an inexperienced winger, a recalled winger and a relatively new centre partnership, this was a step in the right direction.
“There’s huge satisfaction (after this win). We’re certainly going in the direction we want to be. We’re not fully there yet,” Kearney added.
“From a back-line perspective, we scored some good tries out there. We were clinical and it’s something that we probably haven’t been doing to our potential over the last few months.”
To listen to Rob Kearney’s post-match interview, please click here.