Stephen Larkham: 'In-form Keith Earls is looking to kick on with his career'

MUNSTER senior coach Stephen Larkham says their Ireland winger Keith Earls has shown this year that he wants to 'kick on with his career'.

Thirty three-year-old Limerick winger Earls has signed a one year extension to his IRFU contract this week keeping him at Munster until 2022.

Earls made his Ireland debut against Canada in 2008. He has won 91 caps and scored 33 tries for Ireland including eight at Rugby World Cups making him Ireland’s second top try scorer of all time.

The Limerick man has lined out for Munster 177 times to date, scoring 57 tries having made his provincial debut in 2007 against the Ospreys.

Former Wallaby out-half Larkham said Earls had shown in the quality of his displays with Ireland this season that he is looking to improve still further.

Larkham said: “Well, just in terms of the Ireland stuff first, he’s back into some pretty good form there. He’s been struggling for a while with a few injuries that have kept him out of the team, but he’s really shown this year that he wants to kick on with his career, that he’s not comfortable with where he is at the moment and I think he’s shown that in a couple of the Ireland performances so far.

“I’ve also seen him on the paddock doing a lot of extras. He’s working very hard with the physios to make sure that he’s right for performances on the weekend. He offers a lot of advice to the coaches as well, so around the place he’s a good guy to have because he works on his own performance but then he also offers advice to everyone else around, the way the team can do better.”

Larkham says Earls is happy to impart the considerable rugby knowledge he has acquired over more than a decade of playing at the highest level to younger squad members.

Larkham said: “He’s very open. He’s effectively available all the time to talk to the guys. He lives just around the corner here and he’s very open with all the guys. He’s part of our leadership group, he’s got a wealth of knowledge from different competitions and from a long journey in rugby so far.

“I think the boys enjoy talking to him, he’s got lots of different perspectives on things, but first and foremost with your senior players you need to make sure that their performance is where it needs to be. So, yes, he’ll a have a dual role like any of the senior players have in terms of mentoring younger guys and offering advice, but their primary role is performing on the weekend. 

“So we’ll never go away from that with Earlsy, he’s definitely going to be that mentor guy but he’s got to perform on the weekend first and foremost.”