Ross Byrne our bright hope for future as Johnny Sexton’s successor
Carbery may be the focus of attention but his team-mate could be the big winner
Byrne has looked more like Sexton’s successor
IT is now over a month since the news emerged that the IRFU were looking for a Leinster out-half to join Ulster in the run-in to next year’s World Cup.
The narrative has changed considerably in that time. When this soap opera began there was two Leinster players in the conversation — Joey Carbery and Ross Byrne. The intervening weeks have narrowed the focus to just Carbery.
His hesitancy at moving to Ravenhill was understandable and that switch now looks to be off the table — Munster have emerged as the likeliest destination with Carbery taking the place of one of Johann van Graan’s 10s, who would then move to Ulster.
This has been backed up by further reports claiming the IRFU are blocking Ulster designs on Springbok out-half Elton Jantjies insisting, sensibly, that the new man be Irish qualified.
It’s a messy game of musical chairs which has Carbery still dancing around yet to pick a seat — with additional outside suggestions claiming the youngster’s natural footballing abilities would regress in a Munster squad lacking the skills to allow them to properly flourish.
However, amid all the uncertainty and conjecture, there is one key aspect we can have no doubts about — namely that, regardless of Ireland thinking, Leinster see Byrne as the superior out-half.
Carbery got the nod for the bench in the Champions Cup final in Bilbao but that was more attributable to his versatility than a proven ability to slot in for Johnny Sexton.
When Sexton was ruled out of last weekend’s Pro14 semi-final against Munster, Leinster did not hesitate in picking Byrne at 10 again, resisting outside pressure with the tour to Australia looming and claiming, correctly, that he had delivered for them all season and would again.
Theirs is not a random preference.
Leo Cullen’s management of his playing resources has been impeccable while his assistant Stuart Lancaster is one of the most astute judges of talent in the game — if this pair believe Byrne is the man, it is an opinion that arrives with serious credibility attached.
And conviction too, when you consider they are not only going up against the pecking order of Ireland coach Joe Schmidt but also the advice of former World Cup-winning New Zealand supremo Graham Henry — who singled out Carbery as an outhalf of special ability when he was with Leinster on a guest consultant basis at the start of last season.
It is easy to understand why Henry and Schmidt are fans of Carbery — his ability is clear and obvious — but Byrne has always looked the better like-for-like replacement for Sexton. Leinster have no doubt on that score — Byrne has 19 starts at out-half this season, Carbery has one (the shock loss at home to Treviso in April). Byrne may lack Carbery’s off-the-cuff capability to rip defences apart with his natural speed off the mark and jinking ability but, in terms of poise and overall control, Byrne has the edge on the evidence we have seen thus far.
As well as excellent passing and kicking games, there is an easy fluidity and authority to his game that not only carries echoes of Sexton’s play but a striking similarity to the languid grace of former Leinster and Ireland great Ollie Campbell.
The Campbell link may be somewhat obscure given the enormous differences between the game he played in 1970s and ‘80s and rugby’s modern incarnation but it is relevant this week on the back of the selection of the Ireland squad for next month’s three-Test tour of Australia.
It was Campbell who orchestrated Ireland’s last series win Down Under in 1979 and Byrne’s inclusion in the travelling party, as one of only two uncapped players alongside Munster-bound Tadhg Beirne, is highly significant. Schmidt may be desperate to judge Carbery’s capacity to step up should anything befall Sexton but has clearly prioritised the need for a series victory by bringing all his heavy-hitters to Australia so you would have to assume his first-choice 10 will start — unless the series is won after two Tests.
In the unfortunate circumstances of Sexton being unavailable, could he really risk throwing Carbery in from the off when he has not started regularly at 10 all season?
That is the overriding problem and the impetus behind all the discussions to get Carbery a move to a team where he will be guaranteed frontline exposure at 10 next season. Meanwhile, Byrne is in form and with plenty of relevant game time behind him.
If he gets his chance in Australia, you would back him to take it and, as he has shown with Leinster, Byrne could then prove hard to shift as Sexton’s nominated understudy, especially if Carbery decides to stay put in Dublin next season.
Complex as it may be, this is an extremely healthy situation for Schmidt as he continues to arrange his pieces with 15 months to go to Japan 2019.
There has been a definite sense of Byrne’s accomplished performances being overlooked this season, or at least not getting the wider credit they have deserved — particularly when you consider he only turned 23 a few weeks ago.
All the talk has been of Joey Carbery but, the longer this saga rolls on, there is an increasing sense that Ross Byrne could, ultimately, be the big winner here.
As well as Ireland down the line.