Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LOW CARB’S SUPPORTED BY SCHMIDT
Eagles 19 Ireland 55
JOEY CARBERY took a lot of late hits in Saturday’s hammering of the US in New Jersey, but Joe Schmidt refused to land another after the young outhalf endured a tough day at the office. Ireland beat the Eagles 55-19 in the Red Bull Arena, but Carbery was not at his best on what was his first start for Ireland, on his fourth appearance. The Leinster starlet, 21, missed three conversions and saw two kicks blocked – leading directly to two of the Eagles’ three tries. Limping off the field after 50 minutes after yet another big hit, Carbery’s second cap on US soil couldn’t have been more different to his first – when Ireland beat New Zealand in Chicago last year. Sshmidt said: “With Joey, he’s a natural player, you want to encourage him to keep playing naturally and I just want him to learn from the experience. “I can’t imagine I am going to go too hard on him. There is probably enough that has gone wrong for him today without me jumping on the back of it.” Schmidt bemoaned Carbery’s lack of game time at outhalf with his province this season, but says he will not ask Leinster boss Leo Cullen to select him “I’m not sure how people think it operates but Leinster make their own decisions re selection and on the back of that we try to mix and match as best we can,” he said. “It is hard for him to get time at Leinster because he is a natural player and because Johnny [Sexton] is there and Ross Byrne has emerged as a really good player.” There were no injury concerns after the game, bar a potential scan on Carbery’s ankle sprain, but Paddy Jackson will boost the outhalf options when he joins the team today in Japan.