"I feel very, very old now," Keith Earls begins.
The Munster veteran is 30 in October. It's true, the Moyross boy is ancient. Been around long enough to be a Lion on the South Africa tour in 2009.
“It’s bizarre,” he smiles before retelling a conversation he had with the dynamic duo. “I was only chatting to Ringer [Garry Ringrose] and Joey [Carbery] yesterday, and I asked Joey ‘What age are you now, 22?’ and he was like ‘No, 21’, and I remember when I used to be saying that to fellas.
“There’s a famous story when I was running around the pitch with John Kelly and I was asking him when he was finishing up and stuff, I was just a young fella. It’s crazy how fast things have gone.”
Injury slowed his march. There was a time when Earls and Luke Fitzgerald were the Ringer and Joey on tour. Injury eradicated the Fitzgerald’s march.
It slowed both men’s pursuit of what initially seemed guaranteed greatness.
“The biggest issue I had when I was younger is I was trying to be like so many other players rather than myself. The last couple of years I’ve figured out who I am and what I want to do.”
Younger version
Being a father helps that process. And seeing the younger version of himself laughing at him because now, all of a sudden, he is John Kelly.
“A lot of these younger lads now they know what they want, which is great.I would have been looking at someone like Doug Howlett when he first came over, Jean de Villiers.”
Mimicking bigger men, the gym became all consuming, until his limbs yelled, ‘mercy!’
“Yeah, trying to put on weight rather than concentrating on my own strengths.”
“It’s a different world now,” says the man in a 30-year-old’s body but with a 50-year-old’s knowledge of life.
Sport accelerates everything.
“They don’t fear as much as we did. For a few of us growing up, ten years ago, it was tough love off the older fellas, that seems to be gone a bit now. It’s a lot more relaxed now. The younger fellas know what’s expected of them now, which is great.”
They need to prove this come Saturday. No one is ready for the jolt of Test match rugby and this Ireland team will be full of babes. First cappers, literally straight on tour from the academy system. But then you look at Andrew Porter and he looks ready to roll off the bench in any Test match.
But they are still iPhone junkies, the first generation who don’t remember what life was like before Steve Jobs unlocked the door to that hidden room in our minds.
“Every time I look over at them, they’re like this [stares at phone in palm] they’re probably talking to each other! There’s a big change there.
“I personally don’t use it that much. Cian [Healy] uses it more, so it’s different personalities and what have you, it’s whatever you’re into. I try to be quite private, keep the head down. I’m on it as Keith Earls (he’s not anonymous like Johnny Sexton and maybe even Joe Schmidt), I’ve the f**kin’ blue tick, whatever it means. I don’t follow too much of the rugby lads, just general stuff.”
Vast metropolis
This tour should be a nightmare for men like Earls and Simon Zebo, Healy and Ringrose, who all seemed on the cusp of Lions selection. But then you look up from your phone and see this vast metropolis across the Hudson.
“New York is an unbelievable place to go, but you have to be careful not to take it as a holiday, with the young lads they can get distracted a small bit but it’s great to experience different cultures and especially in Japan in a week. A few of the young lads will be around for the World Cup as well, which will be good. I’ve never been to Japan before, it’ll be quite interesting.”
In the meantime, Porter and James Ryan, Ringer and Joey, are the 21-year-olds charged with creating space for Earls to shine.
"It's all about performing under pressure. James Ryan, he probably has a chance to play for Ireland before he gets to play for Leinster.
“I know Joe will put a lot of pressure under them to see how they will react under pressure. Moving forward, it’s up to them how they look after themselves, how they recover and how they get on mentally. This is going be nothing like they’re used to. It’s going to be completely different to underage or club.
“I’d say he’s been keeping an eye on them off the pitch as well just to see that they’re not enjoying themselves too much.”
