Blow for Joe as Leinster select Carbery at 15
Cullen’s men hold all the aces but Munster are fired and furious
JOE SCHMIDT’S plans for the summer tour and beyond suffered a significant blow yesterday when Leinster selected Joey Carbery at full-back for this afternoon’s Pro14 semi-final showdown with Munster at the RDS (3.15). The Ireland coach is desperate to get more game time for Carbery at out-half as he ramps up preparations for next year’s World Cup and today’s encounter would have been an ideal opportunity to assess the talented youngster in a highpressure environment. However, with Johnny Sexton ruled out with a calf strain following Leinster’s hugely physical European Champions Cup final victory against Racing 92 in Bilbao last weekend, Leo Cullen has again opted for Ross Byrne at 10, with Carbery slotting in at 15 for the rested Rob Kearney. While Leinster were understood to be angry at Schmidt’s attempts to convince Carbery to join Ulster while they were in the middle of their Champions Cup campaign, they have consistently opted for Byrne at 10 when Sexton has been unavailable this season. ‘We picked him (Byrne) because he has played the majority of our games at No10 this year,’ said head coach Cullen. ‘We want to reward guys who have actually gotten us to this position. Ross, even in
Munster’s forwards hold the key James Lowe’s defence is a concern against Conway
THERE is a bit of edge to this one. It’s been a while… Over the last few years there has been debate about a notable reduction in the intensity of the Munster-Leinster rivalry, certainly when compared to the high-octane encounters that fuelled rugby’s explosion in Ireland in the 2000s.
The cultural divide that caricatured those clashes — dog-rough Munster men seeking to take down their effete Dublin 4 rivals — has been dissipated by the Leinster infiltration of the southern province.
The current Munster squad features five players who came up through the Leinster system, while highly-regarded backs coach Felix Jones is another to journey south and dilute the overt ‘them and us’ mentality that existed heretofore.
Inter-provincial player migration has become the norm in the pro era (aided by Leinster’s remarkable Academy churning out more quality players than the province can handle), but while there may be a hint of blue to Munster these days, expect some red in the RDS this afternoon because this Pro14 semi-final promises to be full-on given the visitors’ desperate desire.
It stems from the chronic disappointment and regret that followed their no-show in Bordeaux in their Champions Cup semi-final and — with everyone telling them how Leinster are superior in every areas, on and off the pitch — the overwhelming compulsion to put the European champions back in their box in front of their own fans.
It is the reason they have stuck with the side that flopped so feebly in France and struggled to get past Edinburgh in their underwhelming Pro14 semi-final.
However, wanting it is one thing, doing it entirely another and, on paper, Leinster are justifiable favourites (although 1/4 looks a tad insulting to their opponents) even without marquee names like Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Rob Kearney.
The selections at 10 are intriguing and, in Leinster’s case, not particularly helpful to Ireland coach Joe Schmidt. Based on the evidence of his Ireland selections, Schmidt clearly sees Joey Carbery as his best back-up to Sexton heading for next year’s World Cup.
His attempts to convince the talented youngster to move north for more game time at 10 were done with that in mind but, yet again, with Sexton unavailable, the Ireland coach has to look on in frustration as Carbery is used at full-back with the first Test against Australia only three weeks away.
There will be speculation that this was done to spite Schmidt by a Leinster management believed to be miffed at the Ireland pressure heaped on Carbery the week of a Champions Cup knockout game but, as Leo Cullen pointed out yesterday, the province has consistently favoured Byrne when Sexton has been unavailable and he has consistently delivered.
Indeed, there is a powerful argument that Byrne is the better long-term bet as Sexton’s replacement. While Carbery is undoubtedly a mesmerising runner and footballer, Byrne exudes greater control and has a superior kicking game — furthermore, the fact judges as astute as Cullen and Stuart Lancaster favour Byrne over Carbery raises the question as to whether Ireland should do the same.
Meanwhile, Munster’s JJ Hanrahan gets his third start in a row in the No10 jersey as Ian Keatley continues to pay the price for an uncertain performance in Bordeaux. Hanrahan’s professional career has been bit-part and stopstart almost since it began and this period has offered the talented Kerry man his first proper run following his return from Northampton.
This is the game to properly prove himself and having the world-class direction of Conor Murray inside him will provide considerable comfort.
However, Murray and Hanrahan are only as good as the pack that provide them with possession and it is the Munster forwards who hold the key to this afternoon’s result.
Humiliated when it mattered against Racing in Bordeaux, they were largely flaccid again against Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago and this needs to be a display of forward ferocity pulled from the archives if Munster are to salvage their season.
That means James Cronin showing Schmidt that the Ireland loosehead jersey is not just a carve-up between two Leinster props Cian Healy and Jack McGrath, it means South African second row Jean Kleyn returning to the barrelling, bullish form he showed at the start of the season and, above all, it requires compa- triot CJ Stander playing up to his reputation after a season of below-par outings. His exertions on last summer’s Lions tour could be a factor but Stander has been nowhere near as effective as we have become accustomed to and Munster have suffered on the back of it.
One area of potential concern for Leinster is James Lowe on the left wing. The likeable Kiwi is a compelling attacking entity but his defence was disgraceful in Leinster’s hammering against Connacht and cannot be depended upon against a player of Conway’s ability.
What can be depended upon is Peter O’Mahony bringing the necessary levels of intensity to the RDS. The word out of Limerick is that the Munster captain, on the record as saying he is ‘tired of losing semi-finals and learning lessons’, has been working himself and his colleagues up into a frenzy ahead of this encounter.
They will need that fury against a side containing the likes of James Ryan, whose 100 per cent record in senior rugby could be a factor in the bookmakers’ easy dismissal of Munster.
Indeed being so widely written off — with their own ‘16th Man’ supporters even returning 1,000 tickets — could be the jolt Johann van Graan’s men need.
Leinster are formidable opponents but, a week on from the mental and physical drain of claiming the Champions Cup, perhaps not as formidable as the vast majority believe.
Finding out will make for fascinating, and feisty, viewing.