Kearney welcomes competition from Kirchner TEAMtalk Media | 15 October, 2013 Leinster full-back Rob Kearney has welcomed the competition offered by new Springbok recruit Zane Kirchner at the club. Share Article: Kirchner arrived last week in Dublin having played a prominent role at 15 for South Africa in The Rugby Championship. Kearney was Kirchners opposite man during the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to the latters homeland, making the Irishman more than aware of Kirchners abilities. Having had his first training sessions with the three-time Heineken Cup champions last week, when Kirchner borrowed a pair of boots from number eight Jamie Heaslip, Kearney believes the competition for the full-back slot will spur both players on over the coming weeks. Of course its helpful, Kearney told the Irish Examiner. We always say competition is a good thing when youre the right side of it. Maybe when youre in second place, its not as good! How that is going to pan out over the next few months, Ive no idea. Even with him now, I know theres going to be good competition, as there has been over the last few months. Back-three players are something weve been strong in. Its the same as when Isa Nacewa was here, the dynamics of if we play together or stuff like that hasnt really been laid down yet. There will be some interesting chats in the weeks ahead. [Zanes] been pretty quiet so far. Its difficult for him, coming to a new team, to a squad that their season is kicked off and guys are playing and big matches are coming. But hes going good. Guys are making an effort and its important over the next few weeks that guys do make an effort, take him out for some grub and show him around. Little things like that are going to make a big difference to him. Kearney was also pleased with his well-received performance against the Ospreys last weekend, as Leinster got their European campaign off to a winning start and denied the Welsh outfit a losing bonus point. It was one of my best performances coming back, added Kearney. My first few games I was pretty solid but had a couple of one-off pretty big blunders that would dampen the overall outlook of it. SportLive
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:18:19 +0000
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