Rugby World Cup Blog

Ronan O’Gara believes that Keith Earls has made the same impact in his debut season as Jonny Wilkinson did 11 years ago. The 21-year-old is vying for a place in the Lions team for the second rugby test against South Africa on Saturday and O’Gara’s comments will be a welcome boost for him.

O’Gara said that for Earls to ‘achieve what he has’ during his first season of senior rugby is a sign of remarkably quick progress. The Irishman went on to say that nobody has had this type of impact on international rugby ‘since Jonny Wilkinson’.

Much like Earls, Wilkinson played for his country during his first season as a professional. The 21-year-old Irishman has taken the next step though by representing the Lions in his first year.

This doesn’t mean it has been all plain sailing for Earls though. During the Lions tour so far, his performances have been rather up and down. On a positive note, he has scored two tries – one against the
Free State Cheetahs and one against the Emerging Springboks last night – but he had a nightmare start against a Royal XV at the beginning of the tour.

Earls knocked the ball on several times in this match and played his part in conceding a try when he spilled a high ball early in the game. The youngster has bounced back from this performance though and O’Gara
believes that he deserves much credit for this.

Speaking about his Irish team-mate’s progress, O’Gara said that Earls has been  ‘well managed’ since that day and this has resulted in his kicking game becoming ‘really good’.

As for Earls himself, well he is pleased with how he is moving forward as a professional. He said that even though he ‘struggled for the first two weeks’, what has happened since then has been ‘unbelievable’.

With the backing of experienced professionals like O’Gara and Paul O’Connell, Earls has played himself into contention for a place in the side ahead of the second test against South Africa this weekend.

Considering that his aims for the season were to ‘get into the Munster side’, it has been a remarkable few months for Earls and hopefully, it will get even better by the end of this tour.