Munster's Allianz Park brawl medic has joined a very different kind of fight

The Munster medic who sparked last December’s infamous brawl at Saracens has joined the front line in Ireland’s fight against coronavirus. Jamie Kearns made the wrong sort of headlines four months ago when a fiery verbal exchange with England hooker Jamie George at Allianz Park ignited a December 14 pitch-side battle involving players and subs that had a committee room sequel 17 days later. 

An independent disciplinary committee found that Kearns had breached EPCR misconduct rules by verbally abusing George about his weight during the London club’s 15-6 win. The committee imposed a three-week touchline ban - suspended for a period of 12 months - and an immediately payable fine of €2,000. 

With rugby now halted due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Munster squad currently involved in a block of home training scheduled to last until mid-May, Kearns has opted to help out in the emergency department at University Hospital Galway. 

Speaking to the Munster club website, the doctor explained: “I spoke to Munster and they were very supportive of my desire to go back and try and help out locally. 

“I worked in the emergency department in Galway for a number of years so I’d know a lot of the staff there very well and knew there was a need to get extra staff in to cope with the number of people coming in but also the fact that a quarter of the people who get the infection are health care workers and then the number of people who have to go into isolation because of the infection or being exposed.

“I feel lucky that I’m in that situation because I feel for a number of people at the minute when it’s such an uncertain time and you don’t know what’s coming down the road. Having the ability to affect some sort of change is a real positive.”