Rugby World Cup: Meathman happy to answer his country’s call

The Rugby World Cup, which gets underway this Friday, has provoked a multitude of questions among pundits in the Irish media in recent weeks - and no doubt it will continue to do so as long as Andy Farrell's team stays in the hunt. What team will start each game? What strategies will the head coach employ? How will teams such as Scotland and South Africa be curtailed and conquered? Can Ireland, heavens above, actually win the Webb Ellis trophy?

All sorts of preparations go into getting the Men in Green ready for such a sporting extravaganza - and right there at the heart of matters is Meathman Michael Kearney. His official role is that of 'team manager' and right now he is in his second stint in the role

He initially filled the position from 2012 to 2016, working under coaches Declan Kidney and Joe Schmidt. He then stepped aside before picking up the baton once again, more by accident than design.

"At the end of 2016 I stepped away. I just felt I had done my bit. Then, after the World Cup in 2019 Andy Farrell asked me to go back in with the squad mainly as a mentor to the players, a sounding board, someone to talk to the players about their non-rugby lives," he explained when he talked to the Meath Chronicle on Wednesday morning of last week, 24 hours before he and the squad flew out to their base in France.

"Andy felt it was really important to look after the non-rugby aspects of the players' lives so he brought me back in for that purpose," he added. "He brought me in in 2020. I wasn't the manager but I was involved with the squad and I was travelling with them and was part of the overall management team."

Then life, as it often does, took an unexpected turn. Ger Carmody stepped down as team manager to take up a role as Director of Operations within the IRFU. That left a vacancy. "Andy Farrell asked me would I come back in and act as team manager again. It wasn't something I was looking to do but I felt it was the right call given that the team was in the middle of a World Cup cycle. Bringing in somebody new at that stage would have been problematic."

Over a year later the 67-year-old Kilcloonman is still there in the throes of doing what he can to help the Men in Green conquer the world.

PREPARATIONS

Michael Kearney has nothing to do with getting the players ready when it comes to honing their rugby skills, or deciding on what on-field strategies they might employ - but he does have an important role for all that. The team manager's job is, he adds, about "being responsible for nothing and responsible for everything at that same time."

It's a job that carries a range of duties from ensuring the proper procedures are followed in making substitutions during games to checking out training facilities and hotels in the lead up to the World Cup to booking guest speakers to talk to the players. It's about avoiding problems, sidestepping stress.

He is also involved - and this is something he clearly feels very passionate about - in helping players feel less stressful about what they might do when their rugby careers are over. How they will grapple with life back out in the real world, far away from the razzmatazz of big-match days; the rarified world of pro rugby. What they will do when they stop dancing under the lights.

Such knowledge might not seem terribly useful when preparing to face a murderous French pack or to stop a giant New Zealand lock forward rampaging towards your tryline but these days all sorts of preparatory tools - both psychological as well as physical - go into readying a team for battle. The removal of outside noise, or stress, is one vital aspect.

"I look at their lives outside rugby, I look at their families, their friends, their relationships. If they wanted to buy a house or open up a business I will advise them. If they want any advice on areas of interest they might have and or projects they might want to develop over time I will help so that when they retire they hit the ground running rather than go into something cold.

"Most rugby players will retire at 33, 34 or 35 and suddenly they have another 30 years ahead of them. They've got double the amount of time working in an non-rugby area than they would in a rugby area so they need to prepare for that as they go along. There's no point looking at that a year out from retirement.

"Thinking about what they will do after their playing days can cause a lot of stress to a player, my role is to help them along that journey so that they don't get stressed about it, that they can concentrate more on the task at hand, playing rugby.

"Over the years that aspect of players' lives hasn't been as well managed as it could have been. I wouldn't say all of them are in a brilliant place but most of them feel responsible for what they will do post rugby. We've also implemented the same programme for the women’s sevens players, so that has been very positive move as well."

KILCLOON

When advising professional rugby players on business matters Michael Kearney can certainly draw on a deep reservoir of experience. He grew up on a farm in Kilcloon. His mother Freda (still hail and hearty at 92) and father Seamus (who passed away 13 years ago) brought up a family of eight. Michael is the oldest male and the third in line. Hard work was inbuilt into the family's culture.

Young Michael attended Castleknock College. He worked with his father for a few years running the farm and a business buying and selling cattle. Learned some valuable lessons too such as the value of hard graft and the need to be prudent. He played rugby for Lansdowne until an knee injury put paid to his fledgling career.

Michael's life was shaped by a strong entreprenurial streak. It was, still is, part of his DNA. He has had his setbacks, chastening and costly failures, but he has had his triumphs too. He went to Australia with his wife Eugenie in the 1980s. They returned with an idea - to open a Snap Printing franchise in Ireland. Hard work and good fortune can be powerful allies and the business prospered. He went on to set up Home Instead Senior Care business. Again the venture proved a big success. He has subsequently sold both describing himself now as "a busy retiree.” He lives in Rathgar.

Down the years he has sustained his connections with Lansdowne RFC (served as club President in 2000) and now he finds himself an integral part of Ireland's preparations for the World Cup.

Ireland are in the midst of a golden age when it comes to rugby with Andy Farrell arguably their most successful coach of all time. They have won an unprecedented, lucky 13 games in succession. So what is the secret?

"Andy encourages players to be themselves, not be afraid to ask questions, he seeks to create a more collaborative environment with the players, get them to think clearly for themselves, speak up and become part of the conversation, that has been really good," Kearney says in seeking an answer.

Attention to detail, Michael Kearney, believes is vital also in business, life and sport. It can help sidestep nasty problems. The team manager gives an example in the context of the Irish set-up. "It helps that we go from our base Carton House to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown for training. It's like getting in your car in the morning, going to work, doing your work then coming back to Carton House and having your downtime. Before we would have spent the day in Carton House so there was a sense of never getting away from it."

The Kilcloon man references Farrell's brilliant ability as a coach, the great coaching team he has assisting him and philosophy he has forged. "Andy believes if things are challenging that is good because it gives us an opportunity to grow and deal with those challenges."

Everything appears to be working just nicely for Ireland right now, thank you very much. Just how well Ireland have prepared will be revealed over the next few weeks as the World Cup unfolds. Michael Kearney says it's "a real honour and privilege" to be part of it all.

He's describes himself as "a proud Meathman” who is happy to answer his country's call.