Heartbreak for impressive Kearney
June 29 2009
Ireland full-back Rob Kearney has admitted he was left 'heartbroken' after losing the 2009 Lions series to South Africa in Pretoria.
The impressive performer, who opened the second Test's try account with a fine effort on seven minutes, found himself grounded along with 21 other hurting tourists on Saturday.
Ian McGeechan's outfit were in fact leading for a large part of the brusing fixture at Loftus Versfeld after putting in a much-improved 80 minutes than the one that saw them go down in Durban.
But it ultimately proved insufficient as replacement Morne Steyn's 53-metre penalty in the dying seconds saw South Africa avenge their 1997 misery, which Kearney confessed was a bitter pill to swallow.
"It's completely gutting to have held onto something for such a large part of the game and to probably have been the better side until that smash right at the end - it's heartbreaking," he admitted.
"Sport can be so cruel and I think we were on the end of the receiving end of that cruelty. Sides are always remembered for the final result on the scoreboard regardless of what kind of rugby was played.
"It could have been a very special day for us but the likelihood is it will be remembered with every other loss for the Lions."
Kearney was last Thursday handed the number fifteen jersey by McGeechan after injured Wales international Lee Byrne became another tour casualty.
And with the third and final Test set for Johannesburg this coming weekend, the Leinster player seems certain of a second chance to impress after putting in a performance well beyond his 23 years.
"I was happy with how I played but I think from 1 to 15 the boys dug really deep and performed really well. I suppose that that's what makes things just harder to take," he added.
"When guys are playing out of their skins, and putting in some fantastic performances, to fall just short is heartbreaking. We know South Africa play a physical game and probably two of our key guys in the centre took the brunt of that.
"It was unfortunate to lose those guys. But we will pick ourselves up now and a 2-1 defeat will be much better than 3-0."