My focus is on Leinster — Carbery
ALTHOUGH he already boasts a highlights reel that would make many of his older peers green with envy, Joey Carbery has quickly learned to not get too caught up in the hype.
For those in need of a quick recap, just days after celebrating his 21st birthday in November 2016 Carbery made his international debut in Chicago’s Soldier Field, replacing Johnny Sexton to steer the ship home for the final stages of that historic defeat of New Zealand.
Only five months beforehand, he was lining out for Clontarf as they won Division 1A of the AllIreland League, but by the end of that breakthrough season he had made such an impression that there were calls for him to be included in the Lions squad that toured New Zealand.
Warren Gatland resisted, but Carbery was back sprinkling more stardust on the Landsdowne Road turf in the November internationals before a broken wrist sustained in a magical performance against Fiji sent him for a spell on the sidelines — but even that hasn’t been enough to keep him out of the spotlight.
Given the standard of competition at Leinster, over the winter months there has been a suggestion that Carbery would be in a better position to develop if he were to swap the RDS for Ravenhill, even if only on a short-term basis.
Earlier this week, he insisted that the possibility of a switch to Ulster has not been discussed with the powers that be at Leinster HQ, but as he prepares to watch today’s derby between the two provinces from the stands, he admits that it isn’t always easy to switch off from the chatter and excitement surrounding his rapid rise.
‘You hear a good bit about it but you can’t pay attention to it,’ he says.
‘When someone talks about you, you are always interested but the main thing is you always have to listen to the main people like Leo [Cullen], Joe [Schmidt] and Stuart [Lancaster]. You try and block the rest out.’
Carbery resumed on-pitch training this week and is hopeful of featuring in the upcoming Champions Cup ties with Glasgow and Montpelier, as he is acutely aware of the clock running down on Ireland’s Six Nations date with France on February 3.
If fit, Carbery should make the cut as back-up to first-choice out-half Johnny Sexton, despite ongoing debate whether he is better suited to the No10 or 15 shirt.
In the country of Carbery’s birth there have been similar conversations about Beauden Barrett, and not only does the Clontarf man accept that his career trajectory will draw comparisons to the New Zealand superstar, he is open about the fact that he hopes to hit the same dizzy heights as the Hurricanes man.
‘To be compared to him is a bit of a privilege to be honest and I would love to follow in his footsteps and be named as World Player of the Year and win a World Cup. I’m not the same as him though. I’ve got to be my own player as well and I have to work on my basics and then hopefully his sort of accomplishments will come through.
‘It’s all about developing your game and he developed his behind Dan Carter who was one of the best people to learn from. I’m learning from Johnny [Sexton] so that is similar.’
Sexton has played a huge role in his understudy’s development, and Carbery explains that in his eyes, his mentor is every bit as good as All Blacks legend Carter, who recently passed down some pointers to Carbery over coffee after they met at the Ireland v Denmark World Cup play-off.
‘Similar players [Sexton and Carter], but even in the way that Johnny takes responsibility, that’s one thing I can learn from him. He just controls the team and talks to players in such a way that they listen.
‘It’s a big part of playing 10. The two of them have huge control in how they want the game to be played.’
If there has been one criticism of his game it is that his place kicking is not yet reliable enough for high-stakes rugby, but fortunately, his fractured wrist didn’t prevent him from working on his routine with Sexton and fellow Leinster outhalf hopeful Ross Byrne, with the trio not just working on technique, but also replicating game-day situations.
‘(It’s) putting yourself under pressure like having kicking competitions or putting wagers on each kick,’ he explains.
‘His [Sexton’s] technique is almost the same every time which is something I have to bring into my game and have that consistency of the strike.
‘He’s obviously kicked at the highest level so (it’s) little thoughts on how to keep yourself composed mentally.
‘Little cues and things you can bring yourself back to, and that takes you out of the moment and just concentrate purely back to technique. It’s as much a physical practice as a mental practice, kicking.’
And even if Sexton may for now be blocking his path to more regular first team action, being able to work with Schmidt’s first choice No10 is one of the key reasons Carbery remains committed to the Leinster cause.
‘If Johnny wasn’t there and there’s no one competing with you, you’d go maybe a bit lethargic and not push yourself to work harder, so I see with Johnny there obviously you can learn from him and you can always strive and want to beat him and try and compete with him.
‘Without having him there... you can kind of become just content with where you are, but you won’t improve if you don’t.’ Joey Carbery was in the RDS to
launch LifeStyle Sports’ latest competition where fans attending Leinster’s next four home games
can win a €50 gift card