News about Rob Kearney

ALEX BYWATER: Despite widespread skepticism, the rugby World Cup organisers have no plans to change the way national anthems are performed at the tournament in France. The decision by French officials to commission school choirs made up of students from various backgrounds to perform national anthems has been met with unanimous disdain from supporters from both directions. Fans from both countries, as well as those watching at home, have argued that the choirs have taken the life out of the game atmosphere and made it impossible to sing along.

Supporters from all sides condemn French officials' decision to commission school choirs to perform renditions of national anthems at this year's competition. Rob Kearney, a former Ireland international, argued that the pre-recorded videos of children performing are 'killing the five-minute pre-game buzz.' According to French reports, the children's choir is now being considered for scrapping due to the outrage. According to rugby magazine Midi Olympique, officials would meet to discuss potential solutions this week, including allowing fans and players to perform the second half of the national anthem a cappella.

BY CHRIS FOY: An exclusive INTERVIEW COMPLEX: Rob Kearney is used to promote the company and grand surroundings. The former Ireland full-back, who appeared in four European Cup finals for Leinster, is now closer to his renowned cousin, Joe Biden. The 37-year-old has switched from the oval ball to the Oval Office. He is adopting a transformation from sporting success to being lauded by the President of the United States and welcomed into his top-security inner sanctum. Kearney, who will be on punditry service in the build-up to today's Champions Cup final at Aviva Stadium, Leinster and La Rochelle, Kearney, tells Mail Sport how he came to be so well connected.

On Thursday evening, President Biden improved his rugby gaffe, receiving a large applause from Irish lawmakers when he finally got the right nickname for the New Zealand rugby team. A day earlier, he threatened a diplomatic spat by declaring them not the 'All Blacks' but rather the 'Black and Tans,' a British security force that brutalized the Irish in the early 1920s. Nevertheless, he was able to decipher the mess with a slew of sugar, even suggesting that his own children play rugby.

With remarks to a packed bar in Dundalk, County Louth last night, Joe Biden risked a backlash over his 'anti-British' position. Mr Biden, a distant cousin of rugby-player Rob Kearney, said he 'beat the hell out of the Black and Tans,' despite wearing a shamrock tie.' It was an auxilliary police force sent to Ireland in the 1920s to fight IRA fundamentalism, and was chastised in Republican folk songs for their brutality. However, the White House website attempted to defuse the situation by announcing that it refers to the All Blacks – the New Zealand Rugby team. The comment provoked laughter in the pub, with Mr Biden's reputation as a gaffe machine leaving room for discussion about whether it was intended or simply a ruse.

Before referring to a match between Ireland and New Zealand played at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016, the US president was thanking distant cousin and Irish rugby player Rob Kearney. He was speaking about his heritage and assumptions of Irishness to a packed Windsor Bar and Restaurant in Dundalk, County Louth, before describing how the tie was given to him by Kearney. But Biden said: "This was given to me by one of these guys, right here, was a hell of a rugby player." He brought the Black and Tans to a halt.' A flurry of amusing memes highlighting the president's debuffery has sprung up on social media.

On Wednesday, Joe Biden praised a rugby player for 'beat the hell out of the Black and Tans'. Rob Kearney, a distant cousin, defeated the All Blacks (top right), but Biden's mention of the anti-nationalist force was seen as instructive. The Black and Tans (bottom right) was a notorious group of constables sent to assist the British cause during the Irish War of Independence (1921-21 conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British forces. On the eve of his arrival, former Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said that the US president "hates the United Kingdom" - causing Biden's top aide, Amanda Sloat, to insist on Wednesday that he was not anti-British."

During Joe Biden's first meeting when he was a senator in 1982, his mother Jean advised her son not to'kiss her ring." Jean is reported to have written 'hundreds' of poems 'about her hatred of the English'. During one of her visits to the United Kingdom, she was 'appalled' to learn the queen had once stayed in the same hotel as her and preferred sleeping on the floor rather than the bed. Mrs. Biden died in 2010 at the age of 92 after gaining a 'profound' influence on her son. Despite this, the President maintained that the Queen reminded him of his mother.