Rob Kearney

RD77

How do you think he rates against other full backs? Do you think he is the best in the world in his position? If not who would you have ahead of him?

fullback4glin

Definitely best in the world at the moment

Risteard

He's certainly the most solid of every other Fullback IMO, but in terms of pure attacking, I'd prefer Byrne. It depends what type of game plan you want to play, though if he's given licence to attack, Kearney is perfectly capable of making breaks.

Overall I'd have Kearney as you just know that if he goes up for the ball, he'll come back down with it, sort of like Payne was for Munster.

RD77

It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that although he is not a try machine he does have great influence in matches with runs, kicks etc.

thomond2006

Lee Byrne runs better lines than Kearney and has more pace, but as a total package I think Kearney is superior.

Lee Byrne and Mills Muliaina (horrible spelling) edge it for me. They are sick in attack and brilliant under a high ball.

Interesting to note that rugby365's team of the year had Kearney at fullback.

PhatPiggins

RD77 wrote: »

It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that although he is not a try machine he does have great influence in matches with runs, kicks etc.

For sure and what I really like is that his arieal talents neutralizes a lot of the percentage rugby that teams are playing at the mo. Though SA and the Scarlets insisted on booting a load of high balls to him, thanks lads :rolleyes:

He's not the quickest and his defence is sometimes suspect but on current form he's the best 15 in the world although I do think Byrne and Mils when on top form are better then him.

sneem-man

Lee Byrne for me,only by a smidgen though...

Stev_o

He's one of the only players that i think of that looks international class in a green jersey then sorta a good player outside of it. It's a pity he can't play aswell as he does in a Ireland jersey in a Leisnter one. For me Muliania is the best FB in the world.

OldJay

Best fullback in the world is Billy Slater.
Yes, I know its another code but Slater is a flippin' genius.

I'd say there's not much between Mils Muliaina and Rob Kearney. Muliaina's best facet apart from the speed he takes a ball at is his talent as a backline chief. He organises the NZ back three so well.
Kearney is the best Irish fullback I've seen in a fair bit. No offence to Girvan who has been excellent also or Geordan, a very very skillful 15.

Podge_irl

He's not a complete full back by any means. There are some question marks over his defence and he's not the fastest player but he is, by some distance, the best fielder of the high ball I've ever seen. He was the most important player in our victory over SA because he almost single handedly nullified their kicking game.

premierstone

Mulianai, Byrne and Kearney - none of them goin to exactly weaken your team all well ahead of the chasing pack and tbh stick a pin in it theres nothing between them, although agree with the OP based on the last 12 months Kearney edges it although that may be green glasses syndrome!

Stev_o

Justind wrote: »

Best fullback in the world is Billy Slater.
Yes, I know its another code but Slater is a flippin' genius.

World class, never seen a player with a more devastating then Billy the Kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCtEE22Ip08

LeeroyJones

Muliaina is the world's best right now. I would have Kearney second and Byrne third. However Muliaina and Byrne are both 29 and are probably as good as they are ever going to be. With the the World Cup in 2011 and the 23 year old Kearney has another 2 years to improve his game further. So for that reason, looking to the future - I would prefer to have Kearney.

Hippo

Stev_o wrote: »

World class, never seen a player with a more devastating then Billy the Kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCtEE22Ip08

Don't you guys have your own forum for this kind of thing?

danthefan

LeeroyJones wrote: »

Muliaina is the world's best right now. I would have Kearney second and Byrne third. However Muliaina and Byrne are both 29 and are probably as good as they are ever going to be. With the the World Cup in 2011 and the 23 year old Kearney has another 2 years to improve his game further. So for that reason, looking to the future - I would prefer to have Kearney.

Muliaina have a very ordinary year by his own standards, the French game was by far his best game of the season.

Risteard

Justind wrote: »

Best fullback in the world is Billy Slater.
Yes, I know its another code but Slater is a flippin' genius.

I'd say there's not much between Mils Muliaina and Rob Kearney. Muliaina's best facet apart from the speed he takes a ball at is his talent as a backline chief. He organises the NZ back three so well.
Kearney is the best Irish fullback I've seen in a fair bit. No offence to Girvan who has been excellent also or Geordan, a very very skillful 15.

That's all well and good, but would he be able to cope with the multitude of high balls?

I've seen some videos of him and he is a phenomenal player but League is a completely different sport. I don't see why everyone has to compare them the whole time.

LeeroyJones

danthefan wrote: »

Muliaina have a very ordinary year by his own standards, the French game was by far his best game of the season.

True, but by his own standards. The french game showed that he still had the fantastic ability which re-iterated for me that he was still the worlds best. I do though think his reign as the worlds best will come to an end sooner or later and Kearney has shown he can be the one to take that title

danthefan

LeeroyJones wrote: »

True, but by his own standards. The french game showed that he still had the fantastic ability which re-iterated for me that he was still the worlds best. I do though think his reign as the worlds best will come to an end sooner or later and Kearney has shown he can be the one to take that title

Kearney on the Lions tour was easily as good/better than what Muliaina did this year. It was arguable as to whether he was the worlds best fullback anyway (form is important here obviously), so after an average season I can't see where you're coming from at all.

Stev_o

Risteard wrote: »

That's all well and good, but would he be able to cope with the multitude of high balls?

I've seen some videos of him and he is a phenomenal player but League is a completely different sport. I don't see why everyone has to compare them the whole time.

See the difference being is that there's more variations in kicking in League compared to Union, GarryOwens consist of probably 99% of all kicks that come a FB way compared to League where you have mix between up and unders cross field and loads of dinky grubbers. It's more about being able to cover the space to make sure that those kicks don't go into space which he does. He's pretty good in the air as it is but of course he wouldn't see the tons of up and unders that a Union FB would see.

Risteard

Exactly, but this is a discussion about Union's best fullback. Billy Slater might well be one of the best attackers in either code, but if he was put into a Union team right now with the way the game is unfortuneately played, he probably wouldn't look as great because there wouldn't as much space to attack what with defences how they are and constant pressure when taking the ball.

Not taking anything away from him though. But it's like going on to the league forum under a discussion 'Who's the best forward?' and saying Heinrich Brussow is one of the best forwards because he robs so much ball.

LeeroyJones

danthefan wrote: »

Kearney on the Lions tour was easily as good/better than what Muliaina did this year. It was arguable as to whether he was the worlds best fullback anyway (form is important here obviously), so after an average season I can't see where you're coming from at all.

I'm not disagreeing with you on Kearney's ability, I do think that he will be the worlds best full-back in the future and hopefully have it for years.

For me, over the last few seasons Muliaina has been the world's best full-back, after playing France, in France, he showed that despite an average season he still had the qualities which made him the world's best. Had that French game not happened I would probably agree that he could be losing his touch. I'm not basing my opinion on one match, rather a number of seasons and in his last high-profile international he showed he still had it. I would describe his season has being a dip in form, not quality.

Sangre

I think Kearney's attacking ability has probably suffered because of his huge boot. In his early days he was probably Leinster's best attacking back. He would counter attack and run brilliant lines from deep. He has probably been encouraged to kick more and counter attack less (especially as it is much easier to be isolated in today's game).

Peter B

Very close between Kearney and Byrne. Not too sure about Muliaina as haven't seen him enough to comment.

What I like about Kearney apart from the obvious (fielding the high ball) is his ability to kick so far downfield. He kicks the right touchline so well (so much distance) for Leinster when they opt to go for touch with penalties.

This makes such a huge difference for a team's confidence.

little173

danthefan wrote: »

Muliaina have a very ordinary year by his own standards, the French game was by far his best game of the season.

Muliana had a pretty good Super 14 in taking the Chiefs to the Final but SA stiffled the life out of attacking play in the Tr-Nations. Kearney is the best right now mainly because of the way the kicking game has dominated International rugby. Would like to see more of him going forward next year, but overall his error count is low, his positioning first class and has a great boot.

OldJay

Risteard wrote: »

That's all well and good, but would he be able to cope with the multitude of high balls?

Almost every fifth or sixth ball in RL tends to be a high ball so yes, I'd say yes to that . . . very possibly.

And don't be so precious about the codes, folks. If the codes were as different as some purport them to be then there wouldn't be any RL coaches involved in RU and there wouldn't ever be any cross-code signings. Comparing a RL fullback with a RU fullback is nothing like comparing a forward from either code.

I'd still go with Muliaina nipping it ahead of Kearney.

twinytwo

thomond2006 wrote: »

Lee Byrne runs better lines than Kearney and has more pace, but as a total package I think Kearney is superior.

i think the Sa game showed that kearney can move when he wants to..but we dont get to see it very often as he isnt going to run from the 22..

Fink Goddie

I'd like to find out if Rob Kearney is the best in the world

irishbucsfan

Justind wrote: »

Almost every fifth or sixth ball in RL tends to be a high ball so yes, I'd say yes to that . . . very possibly.

And don't be so precious about the codes, folks. If the codes were as different as some purport them to be then there wouldn't be any RL coaches involved in RU and there wouldn't ever be any cross-code signings. Comparing a RL fullback with a RU fullback is nothing like comparing a forward from either code.

I'd still go with Muliaina nipping it ahead of Kearney.

You talk as if there have been plenty of successful cross-code signings, when the truth is there aren't that many. Most of them flop (Farrell, Carney etc.).

And as far as coaches being successful, I don't think it would be nearly as hard for a coach to switch between sports as it would be for a player. For example I would imagine Declan Kidney would make an excellent GAA coach or soccer coach, he'd just surround himself with top-class coaches from the code. I think in terms of League coaches becoming Union coaches, its down to how well the League defensive system adapted to Union, which led to Union teams going out and grabbing Shaun Edwards etc.

If you want to talk about the League backs as athletes, and how well their athletic abilities might adapt to Union thats fine, but the two sports are very different and it takes a different type of player to make it as a good Union player. Just as I'm sure 90% of good Union players would turn out to be mediocre League players.

As a long watcher of Muliaina he is not as he used to be.Himself and Byrne probably edge Kearney slightly in attack but rob is superior to both under a high ball,positioning and kicking.

For me he is the best in the world.
Full back is not all about attack anymore and aerial skills and kicking is now more important and he is better than both at this.

Compare them to goalkeepers,he is the best.

themont85

Kearney is the best all round at the moment, particularly given the multitude of high balls at this time. Interesting that whilst 90% of people up here thought Byrne was a shoe in for full back for the Lions that the Saffers were shocked when he was picked ahead of Kearney.

Good advertisment for Billy Slater there, won't be long till Union poaches him.

AdeT

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You talk as if there have been plenty of successful cross-code signings, when the truth is there aren't that many. Most of them flop (Farrell, Carney etc.).

There has been plenty of successful League to Union converts - very successful ones too. Robinson, Tuqiri, Sailor, Brad Thorn, Rocky Elson, Giteau (Athough he's never played first grade RL he does admit to getting stick off his family for not being good enough too - I don't agree), Chris Ashton, Mat Rogers. Alot of the Wallabies will have been League players when growing up. There are more, I'm sure - just can't think of them atm

"Most of them flop" is a bit of an exxageration. I do apreciate that a number don't hit the heady heights for whatever reason but that doesn't make them a flop.

Anyway, in my opinion, Slater does everything better than Muliaina and Kearney bar kicking. But that's all it is...my opinion. Kearney's best in the NH

AdeT

AdeT wrote: »

There has been plenty of successful League to Union converts - very successful ones too. Robinson, Tuqiri, Sailor, Brad Thorn, Rocky Elson, Giteau (Athough he's never played first grade RL he does admit to getting stick off his family for not being good enough too - I don't agree), Chris Ashton, Mat Rogers. Alot of the Wallabies will have been League players when growing up. There are more, I'm sure - just can't think of them atm

"Most of them flop" is a bit of an exxageration. I do apreciate that a number don't hit the heady heights for whatever reason but that doesn't make them a flop.

Anyway, in my opinion, Slater does everything better than Muliaina and Kearney bar kicking. But that's all it is...my opinion. Kearney's best in the NH

Apologies for some of the spelling!!! it's 5.10pm - I should've left

irishbucsfan

AdeT wrote: »

There has been plenty of successful League to Union converts - very successful ones too. Robinson, Tuqiri, Sailor, Brad Thorn, Rocky Elson, Giteau (Athough he's never played first grade RL he does admit to getting stick off his family for not being good enough too - I don't agree), Chris Ashton, Mat Rogers. Alot of the Wallabies will have been League players when growing up. There are more, I'm sure - just can't think of them atm

"Most of them flop" is a bit of an exxageration. I do apreciate that a number don't hit the heady heights for whatever reason but that doesn't make them a flop.

Anyway, in my opinion, Slater does everything better than Muliaina and Kearney bar kicking. But that's all it is...my opinion. Kearney's best in the NH

Some of those examples are a little misleading. You already mentioned Giteau. Rock Elsom played Union the whole way through school (including representing Australia's youth team) then moved to League briefly, so he's really a convert in the other direction.

Chris Ashton has been good so far but it's hard to tell if he'll be successful yet (he broke the First Division try scoring record though so it has to be said its looking good). I'm not really sure he was right in making the transition the way Union has gone.

The good examples are Tuqiri, Robinson (who played as much Union as he was allowed to by the rules, and probably would have made the transition earlier if Union had allowed professionals), Sailor and Thorn. Who are exceptional athletes, hence their ability to play both codes.

All I'm saying is they're two separate sports, and just because a player is good at one does not mean they'll be good at the other. BOD would have been a mediocre League player...

AdeT

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Some of those examples are a little misleading. You already mentioned Giteau. Rock Elsom played Union the whole way through school (including representing Australia's youth team) then moved to League briefly, so he's really a convert in the other direction.

Chris Ashton has been good so far but it's hard to tell if he'll be successful yet (he broke the First Division try scoring record though so it has to be said its looking good). I'm not really sure he was right in making the transition the way Union has gone.

The good examples are Tuqiri, Robinson (who played as much Union as he was allowed to by the rules, and probably would have made the transition earlier if Union had allowed professionals), Sailor and Thorn. Who are exceptional athletes, hence their ability to play both codes.

All I'm saying is they're two separate sports, and just because a player is good at one does not mean they'll be good at the other. BOD would have been a mediocre League player...

We seem to have run off topic!

Back to full backs - Kearney, Muliaina and Byrne are the three standouts for me at the moment.

There are a couple in England with the ingredients (like Foden) and France always have some real attacking elusive fb, I think the Wallaby fb (Ashley Cooper?) has the odd good game but I think the 3 above are just the stand outs

premierstone

Ramona Young Comic wrote: »

Full back is not all about attack anymore and aerial skills and kicking is now more important and he is better than both at this.

Compare them to goalkeepers,he is the best.

You are spot on Goose and tbh thats whats wrong with Rugby Union at the moment and its a sad indication of where ther game has found itself, long gone are the days of Blanco et all

2040

I know this is off the point slightly, but since the discussion has veered towards league-to-union converts...

Hunt, who was rumoured to be Munster bound at one stage, is at Biarritz now. Needs to learn the rules though.

AdeT

2040 wrote: »

I know this is off the point slightly, but since the discussion has veered towards league-to-union converts...

Hunt, who was rumoured to be Munster bound at one stage, is at Biarritz now. Needs to learn the rules though.

Excellent first involvement in a sport!

He's off to aussie rules soon. Very talented athlete

Sandwich

Have I missed one, or is there no mention of Hernandez?

irishbucsfan

AdeT wrote: »

Excellent first involvement in a sport!

He's off to aussie rules soon. Very talented athlete

I wondered what he was doing while waiting for the Gold Coast team to start playing. He's a big loss to the sport.

anonymous_joe

Sandwich wrote: »

Have I missed one, or is there no mention of Hernandez?

He's in Durban now with the Sharks isn't he? (Sharks are Durban right? ) He's dropped off the radar basically.

ALH-06

PhatPiggins wrote: »

He's not the quickest and his defence is sometimes suspect but...

So how can he be the world's best full back then? Kearney lacks pace and for such a big strong player I've seen him miss a fair few tackles - though I hope this aspect of his game has since improved to a satisfactory level.

little173 wrote: »

Kearney is the best right now mainly because of the way the kicking game has dominated International rugby.

He is so prominent ONLY because of this fact. As soon as these aerial ping pong tactics fade from the game (and they will eventually), the inadequacies in Kearney's game will become more obvious.

Byrne is undoubtedly a better all-round full back, while purely in terms of attacking, running rugby, the likes of Muliaina and Medard are a whole different class.

siltirocker

ALH-06 wrote: »

So how can he be the world's best full back then? Kearney lacks pace and for such a big strong player I've seen him miss a fair few tackles - though I hope this aspect of his game has since improved to a satisfactory level.



He is so prominent ONLY because of this fact. As soon as these aerial ping pong tactics fade from the game (and they will eventually), the inadequacies in Kearney's game will become more obvious.

Byrne is undoubtedly a better all-round full back, while purely in terms of attacking, running rugby, the likes of Muliaina and Medard are a whole different class.

Not any time soon though.

little173

Sandwich wrote: »

Have I missed one, or is there no mention of Hernandez?

He plays at Out Half now doesnt he? He threw his toys out of the pram when he wasnt played there by Stade.

little173

ALH-06 wrote: »

So how can he be the world's best full back then? Kearney lacks pace and for such a big strong player I've seen him miss a fair few tackles - though I hope this aspect of his game has since improved to a satisfactory level.



He is so prominent ONLY because of this fact. As soon as these aerial ping pong tactics fade from the game (and they will eventually), the inadequacies in Kearney's game will become more obvious.

Byrne is undoubtedly a better all-round full back, while purely in terms of attacking, running rugby, the likes of Muliaina and Medard are a whole different class.

The Counter Argument to that is that he is playing that way because of the way the game is now. During his School career he was a fantastic runner and attacking player and played on the wing in his early leinster games and showed some good pace and finishing ability. Having said that, Muliana is a better attacker, more of an outside back with great balance and pace. It is difficult to judge him against Byrne as he is out injured at the moment and whilst Bryne had a good purple patch while the Welsh were going well, his early career was pretty average when they werent so.

anonymous_joe

little173 wrote: »

The Counter Argument to that is that he is playing that way because of the way the game is now. During his School career he was a fantastic runner and attacking player and played on the wing in his early leinster games and showed some good pace and finishing ability. Having said that, Muliana is a better attacker, more of an outside back with great balance and pace. It is difficult to judge him against Byrne as he is out injured at the moment and whilst Bryne had a good purple patch while the Welsh were going well, his early career was pretty average when they werent so.

I saw Kearney playing at S's level and he kicked the ball all day. It was the only tactic I saw from that Clongowes side. Every ball ended up with him, only to be hoofed a mile back deep into our half. Running rugby was not in evidence from him.

little173

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I saw Kearney playing at S's level and he kicked the ball all day. It was the only tactic I saw from that Clongowes side. Every ball ended up with him, only to be hoofed a mile back deep into our half. Running rugby was not in evidence from him.

So Kearney got this amazing reputation as a Schools player just by Kicking the ball back?? He was the best player in the 2004 Senior Cup, as good as Darcy according to the school ( their words not mone) so think you are doing him a bit of diservice there.

anonymous_joe

little173 wrote: »

So Kearney got this amazing reputation as a Schools player just by Kicking the ball back?? He was the best player in the 2004 Senior Cup, as good as Darcy according to the school ( their words not mone) so think you are doing him a bit of diservice there.

I only saw him play once at S's level. He had a howitzer of a left boot, and used it, repeatedly, to great effect. Clongowes won that day.

In contrast, my only memory of Fitzgerald (and Artemiev) is pacy fcukers sprinting through a defence three times between them, the only difference between the two sides.

ALH-06

little173 wrote: »

The Counter Argument to that is that he is playing that way because of the way the game is now. During his School career he was a fantastic runner and attacking player and played on the wing in his early leinster games and showed some good pace and finishing ability. Having said that, Muliana is a better attacker, more of an outside back with great balance and pace.

I accept that point - all Kearney can do is play the modern game, and he does that very well. But the fact remains that he is not top drawer when it comes to running, attacking rugby, while many world-class full backs undoubtedly are.

Quoting his former prowess at schools level means nothing when we're comparing him to some of the best players in the world.

themont85

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I saw Kearney playing at S's level and he kicked the ball all day. It was the only tactic I saw from that Clongowes side. Every ball ended up with him, only to be hoofed a mile back deep into our half. Running rugby was not in evidence from him.

He had a shotgun boot but also displayed some great running skills, I remember one try I think in the semis which was a really great individual score.

shanagarry

anonymous_joe wrote: »

He's in Durban now with the Sharks isn't he? (Sharks are Durban right? ) He's dropped off the radar basically.

Yes and yes, but he only arrived during the Currie Cup, so you won't be seeing him until the S14 starts in Feb