You can tell a lot about a player through how he's viewed by those around him.
Mack Hansen’s tribute to Keith Earls may be the most colourful of the lot, but long before the Ireland wing dyed his hair green and shaved the initials KE into the side of his head, Earls’ standing among his peers was obvious.
From early this week, it became clear that the Limerick man would be joining an elite list of just eight other men to earn their 100th Irish cap.
Since then, his team-mates and coaches have been queuing up with tributes:
"A selfless person" - Andy Farrell
"Everything he does is about the team" - Josh van der Flier
"A superstar" - Conor Murray
"There’s no one who deserves it more" - Andrew Conway
It’s a century of caps that’s been a long time coming. Just under two years ago it seemed like a case of when and not if the Limerick man would reach the milestone of appearances.
In November 2021 he played all three of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series games against Japan, the All Blacks and Argentina to bring him up to 96 international appearances, and despite missing the 2022 Six Nations championship due to a hamstring injury, he added two more caps in that summer’s tour of New Zealand to bring him with touching distance of the century.
The last 12 months have been riddled with injury though; a hamstring issue ruling him out of the Autumn Nations Series, before a calf problem in the Six Nations saw him miss out on the Grand Slam success. A groin injury while in action for Munster in April threatened to end his season, but after a miraculous recovery he was able to help his province to a United Rugby Championship title.
His route to Test rugby had been mapped out long-before his debut against Canada in 2008 at Thomond Park, where he scored a try just two minutes into his international career. Those familiar with the Limerick rugby scene of the mid-2000s had him marked down as a future Munster and Ireland star from way out.
He comes from rugby stock; his father Ger was part of the great Young Munster side that won the All-Ireland League in 1993, and a player widely regarded as one of the best never to play for Ireland.
By 2006, Keith was a local superstar and the standout player on a St Munchin's College side that would win the Munster Schools Senior Cup in 2006, scoring the only try in their 7-6 win against a much-fancied Presentation Brothers College side in the final.
"Going into school and looking up to him, he was a superstar in schools rugby when I came into Munchin's," Conor Murray told Irish Rugby this week.
The Ireland scrum-half was two years behind Earls at the Limerick school, and among the replacements in that 2006 final at Thomond Park.
"I’m blessed to be able to call him a really good friend, and share part of his journey with him.
"Rooming with him in the last 10 years I’ve seen the crazy side to Keith Earls, but what it means to him and his family, he’s been close to so many milestones and big victories we’ve been a part of," Murray added.
As expected, it didn’t take him long to settle into the professional game. Twelve months on from winning a schools’ cup he was making his Munster debut as a 19-year-old, and just a year later he was in the matchday 23 for a Heineken Cup final as the province won their second European title against Toulouse in Cardiff.
An inevitable Ireland debut followed in November 2008 as he scored a try on debut against Canada before featuring off the bench versus New Zealand. Fifteen years on, he joins Murray, Johnny Sexton, Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, John Hayes, Rory Best, Cian Healy and Ronan O’Gara in the Irish Rugby '100 club’.
In those 99 previous caps he’s crossed the line for 35 tries, second only to O’Driscoll on the list of all-time Irish try-scorers, but while his scoring rate stands up alongside any of the Irish greats, some of his highlights in a red or green shirt have come in defence.
The tackle that stands out above all is the one that mattered that least. During the 2018 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign, Ireland were 56-19 ahead against Italy in the final minute when Joey Carbery threw a loose pass in the Italian 22, which was picked off by Mattia Bellini who set off down the touchline.
The Italian wing seemed certain to race clear for what would have been nothing more than a consolation try, but Earls hared him down like it was the deciding score and came up with the turnover. It was a tackle that had no material impact on the game, but summed up the winger’s attitude.
"He's very, very humble, everything he does is about the team," Van der Flier said of his teammate earlier this week.
"If I could score the incredible tries and do the other stuff, the unbelievable stuff he does, I don't know if I would be as humble as him.
"But he's a great, great bloke to have around and I think someone like that, to win their 100th cap, I think everyone is absolutely thrilled because he's such a good guy and the leadership he brings, that experience, is pretty incredible as well."
In late 2021 his popularity in Ireland grew beyond rugby after the release of his autobiography ‘Fight or Flight’, in which he detailed his long-term mental health battles, which led to a diagnosis of Bipolar II in 2013.
"For somebody to be that vulnerable and that honest, I believe that he will change a lot of people's lives because of that," his former Munster head coach Johann van Graan said at the time.
His popularity in Munster, and in particular Limerick, has been unwavering since his breakthrough in the late 2000s, in large part down to his working class roots.
His rise to prominence with Munster, Ireland and the Lions came at a time when the city, and his home neighbourhood of Moyross were routinely in the national press for all the wrong reasons, but throughout his career he’s continually championed the area, even having ‘Moyross’ stitched into his boots (below) early in his career.
"Moyross was constantly in the papers for bad stuff - it was to remember where I come from and the people who helped me or the stories I have from Moyross, it relaxed me a small bit," he said in a 2019 interview.
"I want to show the kids that I grew up in this environment as well and if you have your head screwed on and you want to achieve things in life, and I know it's cheesy, but you can if you put your mind to it."
As a player, Earls’ role with both Munster and Ireland has changed down the years.
Breaking onto the scene as a centre, and then wing, he was a lethal finisher, lightning quick over short distances.
"What do I remember? Skid-marks when I was opposite him, worried that I was going to miss a tackle!" Bernard Jackman told the RTÉ Rugby podcast this week, looking back on facing Earls in his playing days.
"He had phenomenal speed. You used not want to get anywhere near him when he had the ball unless you had Drico [Brian O’Driscoll] inside you and someone else fast outside him and you could corral him into one of them.
"Electric acceleration, it was zero to 100 very, very quick, and very powerful for a guy who doesn't look a big man."
The adjectives used to describe Earls, now 35, centre more around what he does off the pitch than on it.
"I can’t speak highly enough of Keith," his Munster and Ireland teammate Andrew Conway told RTÉ Sport.
"He’s had to dig so, so deep to get to where he is now. Particularly in these last three or four years where it’s not all gone to plan for him in terms of his body and in terms of selection. To be where he is now and to have had the mental strength to dig in and keep showing up every day, and to get the reward of 100 caps, there’s no one who deserves it more.
"He’s unbelievably popular across the country, and rightly so. He’s so endearing, he has this weird way about him, of all the people I come across in rugby, you’d never hear a person say a bad word about him.
"That's a special person."
It remains to be seen whether or not he will add to his 100 caps.
Under contract with the IRFU and Munster until November, he’s been evasive about whether or not he plans to continue playing beyond the Rugby World Cup, and he’s in a battle with several others for the final spots in Ireland’s Rugby World Cup squad.
Whether or not he goes to a fourth World Cup, his legacy has already been defined.
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