Kearney stresses Ireland must maintain focus despite imminent departures of captain and head coach
Friday 6 September 2019 12:17, UK
Rob Kearney believes captain Rory Best is the "glue" that holds Ireland together but a farewell for him and head coach Joe Schmidt is not crucial against Wales on Saturday.
Best, 37, will retire from professional rugby following the World Cup in Japan and will play his final home match against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Schmidt will also step down after the tournament following six successful years at the helm, in which he has overseen three Six Nations titles.
However, Kearney played down the importance of a send-off for the pair.
"Obviously it's very important but it's not at the forefront of our minds," he said.
"Performance is huge for us this week and even if you scale back the performance, it's putting it into blocks; the first 10 minutes, the second 10 minutes, and so on.
"We really need to ensure we're firing at all cylinders for that first week, [of the tournament] so this weekend is a big step for us.
"And then you get to enjoy and feel proud of giving Joe and Rory the big send-off."
Best, who also played his final game for Ulster in May, will receive his 120th cap against Wales - making him the third-highest capped player in Ireland's history - behind only Ronan O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll.
"It's huge, isn't it? And sometimes I think it gets a bit undervalued," Kearney said on Best's leadership ahead of Ireland's final World Cup warm-up match.
"Some of the momentous victories we've had as a team have been under Rory. He's a brilliant leader, he's the glue that brings the team together a lot.
"Again, he's a guy who is training really well and I'm sure he's very excited to get out there and demonstrate that he's still hugely capable of producing big performances, even at his ripe old age."
Ireland returned to winning ways last weekend after they were comprehensively beaten by England 57-15 at Twickenham, edging out Wales 22-17 in Cardiff on Saturday.
Schmidt's side face Scotland in their first World Cup group stage match on September 22, before playing hosts Japan six days later.
