KEITH EARLS WILL be there on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium with his wife, Edel, watching his two old bosses go head to head as Andy Farrell’s Ireland host Joe Schmidt’s Australia.

There’s no part of the 37-year-old that will want to be out there on the pitch.

Some retired players get pangs to be back in the thick of it but not Earls. 

His body could give no more after the 2023 World Cup when he hung up his boots. The Limerick man tried to take up football with Aisling Annacotty but even that proved too much as his hips and back and neck told him to pack it in.

Earls has no direct involvement with rugby now apart from watching matches and keeping in touch with friends who are still in the game. He is well and truly into the next chapter of his life with his business, Eleven14 Coffee Roasters in Limerick.

“If you thought rugby was a rollercoaster, then the real world is definitely the same,” says Earls of life after rugby.

“I think it’s got similar enough stresses but they’re probably stresses that are more important than the stresses we have in rugby. Look, I’ve had some good periods and some difficult periods and that’s just life, I think. But all in all, really good.

“I don’t miss competing, I don’t miss putting my body through that.

“You miss the lads, you miss the friendships, the connection with them but with the roastery, a lot of the lads still call out so I’m still getting that hit with the lads and that’s making it a bit easier for me maybe to say I don’t miss it.”

Another of the reasons Earls finds himself content is the fact that weekends are his own.

Earls was playing at the top level almost as soon as he left school. His life was regimented and weekends were taken up by games. The structure of season upon season meant little room for planning anything beyond a holiday in the summer. 

Keith Earls with his family after his last home game in 2023. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

So the time he has now with Edel and their three daughters, Ella-May, Laurie and Emie, is magical.

“I’m loving that Friday feeling, finishing work and going off for the weekends with my daughters and my wife,” says Earls.

“My little girl is a keen soccer player so it’s all soccer and Gaelic football now, no rugby.

“It’s the simple things, being able to schedule a holiday or do something spontaneous like head off to London with the family or head down to Kilkee or some part of Ireland whenever you want. That freedom is lovely.

“I can’t get over how good the simple things are, how much enjoyment I’m getting out of them. I’m dropping my eldest girl to school every morning now before I head out to work and that’s all so important to me.”

Work keeps him busy and developing Eleven14 – named after the two positions he played – demands plenty of blood, sweat, and tears.

Earls is in charge of a full-time staff of six, including Edel, as well as two part-timers. 

Having learned from Ireland boss Farrell during his final years in rugby, Earls wants his own company to have a positive culture in which people enjoy work, feel that family vibe, but also care deeply about the business.

Earls feels that the discipline required in pro rugby overlaps with his new work, as well as the ability to stick to good habits, but explains that the direct communication involved in rugby doesn’t apply to the outside world.

“The way we speak to each other in rugby, the way we could go through each other on the pitch, in the changing room, in meetings, the way we could call each other out, you can’t do that in the real world or else you’d be in court every second week!”

Earls started the business while he was still playing and feels that was probably the wrong thing, given how he couldn’t be there all the time, but it’s flying now as he continues to learn the craft. 

Earls after Munster's URC win in 2023. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Visitors are often surprised to see Earls roasting the coffee himself or stepping in to make the coffees if his barista is on a break.

“That competitive side of me is still there so I want to have the best coffee in the country,” says Earls.

“My rugby career is forgotten about because it doesn’t matter anymore, that’s the way I’m looking at it.”

That’s not how Ireland and Munster fans look at it. Earls will be remembered as a legendary player for both teams and as one of rugby’s nicest people.

The fact that his 2021 book, Fight or Flight, was so open and honest about his private battles with his mental health made him an even more loved figure in rugby circles.

Indeed, Earls’ autobiography continues to have a positive impact on people now.

“It’s been amazing feedback,” he says. “When I did the Late Late Show that time with Ryan, I came off and I was thinking, ‘I’m after giving too much away’ and I half-regretted it but I saw the amount of feedback and just the amount of people calling to me in the roastery, writing me letters, sending me messages, all of that makes it worthwhile.

“At the end of the day, I genuinely think we’re all going through the same stuff and me talking about it, just because I was a rugby player, doesn’t make it any different.

“Sometimes, you’re embarrassed by the way you talk, but the other side is that it’s important we talk about our problems and we share them and help people.”

Howden, a Principal Partner for The British & Irish Lions, celebrated the 2025 jersey launch with rugby legend, Keith Earls, in Dublin.