**It may have turned a few heads when Mick Kearney made the move to Zebre in the summer, but the 28-year-old hasn’t looked back once since he relocated to Parma.** After eight seasons in Ireland split evenly between Connacht and Leinster, the imposing lock took the plunge to move to northern Italy where he linked up with fellow Irishmen Ian Nagle and head coach Michael Bradley. After mainly featuring off the bench last season under Leo Cullen, Kearney has enjoyed a fresh start on the continent, cementing his place as a regular in the starting XV in the process. “It’s been unbelievably enjoyable so far, it’s a massive culture shock for me personally,” the former Leinster man said. “I’ve been in Ireland for my entire career so to move to a country like Italy and particularly a place like Parma where English isn’t widely spoken, it’s been a really enjoyable experience. “I was aware of the fact that Michael Bradley was over here. He was a coach that I hadn’t worked with previously but I had heard good things about, so after a short discussion it was an offer that was too good to turn down in the end. “I’m of the opinion that you can’t get better as a player unless you are playing a lot of rugby regularly. The opportunity to play week in week out and to try things on a weekly basis is a breath of fresh air for me, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it this year.”
