Neil Francis: 'Rob Kearney still has a body of work to do for Leinster before he heads off into the sunset'

I was in New York last month and went out to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford to watch the New York Giants play the New York Jets in a rare derby game.

It was, I estimate, my 21st time to attend an NFL game, which is probably more than the number of Pro14 games that I have watched.

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Despite both teams having a rich seam of quality running through their roster, they have both been abysmal this season, and have been for some time now. The game, however, was a highly entertaining spectacle which the Jets managed to win 34-27.

Amidst all the hubris of these under-achievers, my eyes were drawn to Eli Manning stoically observing events. The Giants’ quarterback lost his starting position after two blow-out losses in September.

The rookie Daniel Jones became the starting quarterback, so Number 10 had to sit on the bench. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end for a two-time Super Bowl winner and the MVP in 2007 and 2011.

Eli Manning is a most unlikely sporting hero. The languid lethargio is the younger brother of a real superstar, Peyton. He looked like a Koala bear who had eaten too many Eucalyptus leaves. He had permanent bed-head and looked to be in a constant state of dishevelment.

Yet Eli Manning was the first pick in the first round of the draft, and he did conjure up what is generally agreed to be the greatest play in Super Bowl history to better the unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable New England Patriots in the 2007/’08 season.

Manning will be 39 next month and his contract with the Giants finishes then. Before you all get teary-eyed about his impending departure to the knacker’s yard, consider this: Manning has earned over a quarter of a billion dollars so far ($252m). Work out the figures yourself for his 16-year career.

He did earn it, with two Super Bowl wins. But what is of relevance to this piece is that he played 210 straight games between 2004 and 2017.

Durability is a major factor when you are awarding contracts. How many times have we seen teams splash out big dough on very talented injury basket cases?

Thirteen seasons without missing a game in a sport of uncompromising savagery points to astonishing durability and reliability.

Here is the rub: At the end of the 2018 season it was obvious he was gone and, rather than discuss a cordial retirement, Manning and the Giants chose to exercise his option for 2019.

In a league where you are always seconds away from a HR double tap, sentiment is the last emotion you would think runs through the hard-nosed, cold-blooded executives running these organisations, and in particular the Mara family.

Manning got a $17m contract for the season. He was benched after the second game. NFL players are paid in one-seventeenth increments over the course of the regular season; there are four quarters of 15 minutes in a game.

It means that Manning gets $1m per game sitting on his hoop every Sunday.

Loyalty and sentimentality eh?

When my time was up with my international career, I knew what was coming. Lifting had been legalised in the lineout and I wasn’t quite quick enough to get to the breakdown, if ever I had been in the first place.

Pat Whelan, in fairness to him, decided to tell me face to face, off-site at the Montrose Hotel. On the way to the shooting the car in front of me had a mechanical breakdown and I ran into the back of it. I was half an hour late for the meeting and as Whelan had just taken the safety cap off his Luger, I said to him.

“Pat, you can’t drop me.”

“What? Why?”

“Cos I was first to the breakdown.”

We shook hands, and after 10 seasons I was relatively happy to at least get called aside for the coup de grace.

Rob Kearney got good news during the week — a contract extension. He was probably expecting the call.

He has had a dazzling career, and it can be said that since he was first capped right up until the recent World Cup he was an automatic choice for his country.

His durability, if not his dependability, suffered when he picked up a bad back injury about four seasons ago. But Kearney was good value for every performance he gave.

The nation knows how good he has been for his country and province. His CV will not be matched any time soon and he pretty much gets to go out on his own terms.

A contract extension though?

The first point is that it is very hard to walk away from it all when you are fit and still capable of playing at a high level. The second point is, yes, money is a factor.

Kearney still has a much-coveted central contract which has been extended to June 2020. The money he is on for the rest of the season is understandably down from his previous contract, but it is still significant.

Some rugby supporters may say that a player should just retire, walk away when they think their time is done, but they forget that in pay-for-play, earnings can fall off a cliff when you stop playing.

In all cases if it is medically viable and form wise it is plausible, well then, hell, keep going. Retire? No thanks, I have done nearly everything, but it is still important to earn. The currency of an international player is being current — once you no longer command a place on the national side the endorsements and brand ambassadorships dry up. You might even have to buy your own car.

And so, while Jordan Larmour, Andrew Conway and possibly Jacob Stockdale vie for the fullback position for the Six Nations, Kearney may just have to settle for a wet Friday night in Rodney Parade against the Dragons. Sometimes, understandably, the enthusiasm tapers off.

Kearney will play a part in Leinster’s strong push for yet more honours in May. The feeling I get, though, is that the contract to the end of June is almost a loyalty payment.

Kearney has on every level been brilliant for the IRFU, so what is an extra eight months’ pay? Professional sport can be cold-blooded and callous but if there is a little chink of charity shining through the compassionless windows of the IRFU, we may be seeing it now.

Let’s see if the trend is continued in June 2021 with Johnny Sexton and June 2022 with Conor Murray. Ireland’s halves have missed large chunks of the last several seasons and loyalty, charity and sentiment may only stretch so far if one or other gets injured too often.

It may not end well for both as the four-year World Cup cycle is running against them. The chances of an injury-free run in to the end of their careers are slim.

An injury to Daniel Jones meant Eli had to work for his $1m ‘thank you very much’ loyalty payment last weekend. Nobody cared out in MetLife Stadium.

It was just great to see their hero one more time. Kearney still has a body of work to do for his province before he heads off into the sunset.

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