CARBERY’S GONE.. WE MOVE ON
Lancaster focuses on Blues’ future rather than Reds’ Joey
STUART LANCASTER hasn’t spoken to Joey Carbery since his defection to Munster because he’s too busy focusing on coaching his replacements.
The Leinster senior coach was a strong advocate for Carbery to remain with the Blues after their double-winning season.
But before Ireland’s summer tour to Australia, the talented young back decided to move south for regular action at No.10.
The decision was made while he was in the Irish camp and Lancaster admitted: “I’ve not spoken with Joey since. It’s his call.
“I said all along it would be the player’s decision to make and Joey made it. In my mind, it doesn’t immediately go back to, ‘What if this, what if that’. My mind goes, ‘Right, what next?’. What’s next is Ciaran Frawley and Harry Byrne coming through. You move on, that’s what you do as a coach.
“Players leave and good luck. But coaches and players, everyone moves on to the next job, the next season, the next training session – and that’s been my mentality.
“Ultimately it was his decision. He’ll want to back himself to play at Munster, it’s competitive down there – in both positions, 10 and 15 – so it’s not my concern. I spoke to him as everyone else did but ultimately it’s down to the player.”
Leinster are well stocked at out-half with Johnny Sexton in situ and Ross Byrne graduating to Test level experience in Australia.
Behind them, Frawley looked the part in February when given his chance, the 20-year-old picking up the man of the match award on his first PRO14 start in the demolition of Southern Kings.
“He’s an option,” said former England chief Lancaster of Frawley. “The challenge for us is to find depth in that position, such a key position for us.
“We’ve Johnny, Ross, Ciaran and Noel Reid didn’t play there so we’re having a look to see if that’s a viable option for us.
“Harry, who is Ross’ younger brother, was Ireland U20s. If this was an English club and you had the current England U20 fly-half you’d be reasonably happy that he was third or fourth choice in your club.
“So I’m looking forward to investing time into Harry – and seeing how Harry and Ross get on together on the training field when we put them against each other.”