DON’T GO, JOEY
Lancaster still hopes Carbery will stay a Blue
STUART LANCASTER has said the decision on Joey Carbery’s future must be left to the player himself — but he wants him to stay at Leinster.
The desire of Joe Schmidt and the IRFU to move one of Carbery or Ross Byrne to Ulster next season has dominated the weeks since Leinster secured a place in the European Cup final.
And just days out from their biggest match of the season, the fate of their back-ups to Johnny Sexton remain apparently unresolved.
But Leinster coach Lancaster says the decision must be left to the player, and made clear his desire to continue working with Carbery.
‘If the player feels it’s the right thing to do, then everyone is going to respect that decision,’ said Lancaster.
‘If the player feels that the right thing to do is to stay and develop at Leinster alongside the other players who he’s worked with and grown up with, then I think that’s going to be his call.’
And Lancaster was asked where he felt Carbery’s best interests are served: staying at Leinster or
moving to Belfast? ‘Personally, my view, I want to keep working with Joey at Leinster,’ he replied. Carbery will be involved at the weekend, and so too, according to the province, will Luke McGrath. The scrum-half was out injured for the semi-final win against the Scarlets, a consequence of the ankle injury he suffered in the quarter-final victory against Saracens. He trained fully last week, however, and is expected to do so again this week. That would see him back in the team for Saturday’s final against Racing 92. It would also free up James Lowe for selection. Under competition rules, teams can only play two players from outside the European Union. In McGrath’s absence, Leinster had to select his deputy, Jamison Gibson-Park of New Zealand. With Australian Scott Fardy in terrific form and demanding inclusion, it meant Lowe was not in the squad for the Saracens match. But with McGrath fit again, Gibson-Park will likely drop out of the squad, with Lowe coming straight back into the team in place of Fergus McFadden.