http://harpin2.blogspot.ie/2013/01/plight-of-earls.html
Some regular readers of my blog may have noticed that I'm harsh on a number of players, including Keith Earls.
Having
been asked to explain my reasoning’s behind it on twitter, I thought
140 characters isn't enough to probably get my whole point across.
When
Earls burst onto the scene in 2008, he was the new saviour of Irish
rugby, the heir apparent to Brian O'Driscoll, someone we could hang all
our hopes on. He was so impressive with his natural running lines and
quick feet that he found his way onto the plane for the Lions in 2009.
Since
then though, he hasn't progressed too much. He's still has electric
pace, and a touch of quick step about him, but the cutting edge that
used to produce line break after line break seems to have been figured
out by defences.
Maybe
that's because he isn't getting enough help from others to put him into
space, or because that seems to be his only attacking move. His
performances for Munster still earn him a lot of credit, but a lot of
those "good performances" only involve looking dangerous with ball in
hand without providing a proper cutting edge.
Earls
strikes me as a technically gifted footballer, but one that seems to
lack the brains to adapt his game and still provide a cutting edge.
His
defence is improving, but not enough in the last few years. He still
gets caught out, especially at 13, one thinks of Manu Tuilagi in
particular rolling over him. As a young pretender it's forgivable, but
he hasn't bulked up too much since then and his tackling isn't good
enough.
Yes he can play
lots of positions, but with the quality that Ireland have in the 3/4
line, he isn't needed there anymore. Others coming through can cover
other positions like Zebo (Side note: I'd be really interested to
see what Zebo can do from 13; he really impressed at 15, and seems to be
more effective when running with the ball in the middle of the pitch)
and Gilroy covering full back and wing, with Fitzgerald able to play
right across the back line and McFadden being a centre playing on the
wing.
In
conclusion, there is no denying Earls talent, but I’m maybe questioning
a bit of his know how. He needs to be given a wakeup call; much like
Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe or even Luke Fitzgerald was at various stages
of their career. And look how they turned out. And Earls isn't the only
one in the current Irish set up that needs a wakeup call.
