Sportsmen and sportswomen often look to draw inspiration and motivation from a variety of places like what opposition has said about them previously or what the media has written about their past performances. However some can choose to look closer to home and this would seem to be the case with Irish winger Keith Earls.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio after the match Keith Earls revealed that a text that he received from his father on the morning of the match helped inspire his performance against Romania on Sunday.
From the fields of Moyross to Wembley stadium you have come along way and that is what dreams are made of.
Not only does the text message show how far Earls has come during his career but also the long and difficult road he has had to travel to overcome his previous injuries to just be able to be out on the pitch.
The winger also thanked the Irish support that was at the game. He said that he and the rest of the Irish team was "gobsmacked" at the level of support the team has received so far during this World Cup:
Yeah it is incredible I reckon an Irish team playing on the north pole would have phenomenal support. We are a passionate country, you know the famous saying like when one goes to battle we all go to battle.
Ronan O'Gara has joined in with a chorus of fellow ex-players to lavish praise on his former Munster colleague for his performance on Sunday. Speaking to RTÉ sport on Morning Ireland, O'Gara admitted that Earls had been inconsistent in the past but that his hard working attitude and humbleness had always been evident. For O'Gara these were reasons enough to believe that he was always destined to preform on rugby's biggest stage.
O'Gara believes that Earls can build on his performance against Romania and become one of the stand out players at this World Cup.
I’ve had the pleasure of training with him and when you see a guy in training, you see so much more of the full product and for me, he was always going to go on and achieve greatness.
And I think hopefully he will go on to achieve greatness on a world stage, which I think would fulfil his potential.
Hopefully we will see more of Keith Earls's try scoring exploits as Ireland try to advance deeper into the rugby world cup.
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