Rob Kearney Responds To Simon Zebo Possibly Taking His Fullback Jersey

Kearney or Zebo?

Simon Zebo has been in magnificent form this season. The Munster star has made the fullback role his own for his province, and is seen by many as a potential long-term solution at fullback in place of Rob Kearney.

Tiernan O’Halloran has also been in excellent form this season with Connacht, while Rob Kearney has once again struggled with injury as he approaches the twilight stage of his career. Is it time for him to pass the torch?

Kearney has been a longtime favourite of Joe Schmidt, who stuck by him as recently as the All Blacks game in Chicago, where he proved to the world that he’s still well up for the task. Heading into this year’s Six Nations however, he’s far from 100%, so does he fear Schmidt will finally lose faith in him?

“I’ve been feeling like that for a long, long time, right back to Geordan (Murphy) and Girvan (Dempsey). Felix (Jones) went through a stage there… you’ve got Zeebs, you’ve got Tiernan (O’Halloran).” Kearney said.

There was a huge amount of chat about Jared (Payne) last year, so it’s not something new whatsoever. I’m fully aware of the huge level of competition that’s there.”

“It’s really important now that with the depth there right across the whole board, I know if I’m not playing well, I won’t be there too long.

Will Schmidt stick with his man this weekend? Only time will tell.