Time running out for Leinster to keep Rob Kearney
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 09: Rob Kearney of Ireland arrives ahead of the Guinness Six Nations match between Scotland and Ireland at Murrayfield on February 9, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Rob Kearney was an obvious absentee from the list of 21 senior deals confirmed by Leinster on Tuesday, and the player’s agent has revealed negotiations are ‘well below where they need to be’.
The Ireland full-back will be out contract after the World Cup and has been linked with joining Simon Zebo in a move to France.
Now 33, Kearney’s future remains fraught with uncertainty as long as the IRFU’s offer stays where it is.
“We had hoped to have reached a conclusion by now,” Kearney’s agent David McHugh told the Irish Independent.
“The discussion is live and open but it has led us to check other options.
“The IRFU has made Rob an offer but, if I am honest, it is well below where it needs to be. Well below.
“It has been a little protracted. We are struggling to get it to a point where it makes sense for him.”
The prospects of Kearney finishing his career as a one-club Leinster man seem unclear in a season where countrymen Rory Best and Darren Cave both achieved this status.
Since making his debut for the province in 2005, Kearney has gone on to represent them in 209 matches.
Honours with Ireland have seen him win 90 caps and four Six Nations titles, as well as touring with the British & Irish Lions in 2009.
