THIS DERBY’S MUST-WIN

academy back row Josh Murphy makes his second start.

One reason why Carbery is content to stay at Leinster is that he is learning from a master of his craft in Sexton. The Athy man added:

“Johnny just controls the team and talks to players in such a way that they listen. It’s a big part of playing

10. If Johnny wasn’t there and there’s no one competing with you, you’d go maybe a bit lethargic and maybe not push yourself to work harder

“I’m a lot more comfortable around everyone now and you’re not talking to strangers.

“I’m talking to my friends and you have to be loud and in control in the role. Once you accept that and realise people actually do listen to you then it is a lot easier.”

While Sexton is renowned for being a hard driver of his team, the softly spoken

Carbery is exhibiting signs that he could follow suit as he matures.

“There’s a line between positive and negative,” he claimed.

“You always have to be positive with the team but you can’t accept not great stuff all the time. There’s a certain line where you still have to be positive while not accepting dirt really.”

Munster v Connacht Tonight 7.45pm

MUNSTER coach Johann van Graan has targeted today’s derby with Connacht as a must-win fixture after a disastrous series of results against Irish provinces this season.

The festive losses at home to Leinster and at Ulster mean Munster have got nothing from all four derby clashes so far, having lost at The Sportsground to Connacht and at the Aviva Stadium to Leo Cullen’s Blues.

The latest defeats have taken the shine of the bright start made by van Graan (left) since he took over at the start of December from Rassie Erasmus. He admits it is just not acceptable for Munster to go five games without beating one of their Irish rivals and added: “I wasn’t here for the first two and it wasn’t in our planning to lose these two games. We want to win every single game that we play in.

“The players spoke very passionately about it during the week. It’s not good enough for Munster to lose four games against other Irish provinces.

“That being said, two weeks ago, it all looked pretty rosy for Irish rugby with all four teams winning home and away in Europe.

“I guess the positive is that it is all against quality opposition. You just have to look at Connacht and the type of rugby that they are playing. We didn’t play good rugby up there but we are actually playing some very