Carbery complications create huge issues for Munster and Ireland
Munster and Ireland have No10 dilemma
THE sight of Joey Carbery leaving the pitch on a motorised stretcher at the Aviva last August was a grim scene. The World Cup was less than six weeks away and Joe Schmidt had just seen his backup No10, a player with real X-factor, pull up with a twisted ankle.
Carbery had shown his class for 50 minutes against the Italians that day.
Coming off the back of an excellent first season at Munster, the talented outhalf was starting to settle into his playmaking role at the top level.
All was going according to plan during that pre-World Cup warm-up before Carbery got his ankle trapped under a pile of bodies.
When it emerged that he had suffered ligament damage, it was believed that his race to make the flight to Japan was run. Carbery managed to make it to the World Cup but he was never fully fit at that ill-fated tournament and he has not been right ever since.
Yesterday came more bad news with Munster confirming that the 24-year-old was facing an ‘indefinite period of time’ out of the game after another setback in his recovery. It’s another cruel blow to a player who has oozed class and potential since he burst onto the scene in 2016. This, after all, was a rookie
No10 who went from playing for Clontarf in the AllIreland League final to steering Ireland home in the frantic final quarter of that historic win over the All Blacks in Chicago in the space of six months.
Suffice to say, Leo Cullen and Leinster were gutted to see him head down the M7 to join their arch rivals in 2018. Carbery was thriving under Stuart Lancaster as a free-running full-back but regular game-time at No10 was virtually guaranteed if he chose to head south. Joe Schmidt may look back on those events and wonder if a dual playmaking axis of
Johnny Sexton and Carbery – which was flourishing at Leinster – may have been the way forward for Ireland heading towards the World Cup? We’ll never know.
And Carbery thrived initially down at Munster under Johann van Graan. After a patchy kicking performance in a pool game against Castres, he went on to nail 20 consecutive kicks and starred in Europe that season. That Friday night he bagged 26 points in a virtuoso display against Gloucester in Kingsholm, signalling his arrival onto the big stage. Ronan O’Gara had cast a long shadow at the province since his retirement in 2013, but Munster had seemingly found their new king.
A hamstring injury sustained during the subsequent Six Nations ruled him out of Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final victory over Edinburgh and the subsequent loss to Saracens in the last four.
Having battled back to be in World Cup contention, Carbery then suffered that injury blow. There were cameos off the bench against Japan and New Zealand in a bid to rescue Ireland out of massive holes. Munster weren’t best pleased with the condition of their prized asset when he returned after that tournament. A wrist injury the following January further hindered his progress while that ankle continued to cause problems.
The fact that he has lined out for Munster on just 17 occasions over two years tells its own story. It is hoped that 2021 will be kinder to this supremely gifted talent.
So where does this leave Munster ahead of this gruelling campaign? JJ Hanrahan stepped up manfully this season before the lockdown struck in March. The Kerry man will be an even more pivotal figure, going forward, given Tyler Bleyendaal’s retirement. It leaves Hanrahan – recently turned 28 – as the most experienced outhalf in the Munster squad.
As Van Graan noted yesterday, Munster have a clutch of talented young playmakers in Ben Healy, Jake Flannery and Jack Crowley, but talk is cheap. He now has to place his trust in that young trio. Leinster have long invested in their youth and now Munster must follow suit. Hanrahan simply can’t carry the whole operation by himself. Healy, Flannery and Crowley must now be afforded the chance to stake their claims. Van Graan may seek to go t o t h e market to bring in extra cover, but Munster have to back their own at some stage. It’s sink or swim time now.
Carbery’s absence will be felt at Test level, too. Andy Farrell has a bit of a dilemma. Leaning on a 35year-old Sexton is not a long-term solution, while Ross Byrne and Jack Carty never fully convinced Schmidt they can boss a game at Test level. Ian Madigan may have timed his return to Ireland perfectly if he can discover some form at Ulster. That race for the Ireland No10 shirt looks wide open at the moment.
Still, you’d hope Carbery comes back into the equation at some stage. There is simply no one like him at provincial or Test level on this island at the moment.