JOEY CARBERY IS closing in on a return for Leinster after injury, and he has hopes of featuring for Ireland in the Six Nations.
The 21-year-old was enjoying a breakthrough season with province and country before suffering an ankle injury in Leinster’s Champions Cup clash away to Northampton in December.
Having been diagnosed with syndesmosis, the out-half was forced to undergo surgery. Carbery is now back in training after a period of rehab and recovery, and hopes to feature in Leinster’s next Guinness Pro12 game against Treviso on 12 February.
“I’m fully back running and I’ve been doing a lot of strength testing on it, compared to my good ankle,” Europcar Ireland ambassador Carbery told The42.
“It’s pretty much back to where it was before I got injured, so it’s more so getting back into training, getting my fitness back up after being out for a bit. Hopefully in the next few games I’ll be back playing.”
Carbery made his Ireland debut in the second half of the historic win over New Zealand in Chicago last November, adding further caps in the wins over Canada and Australia later the same month.
Those achievements capped a meteoric rise for the Athy man, who only made his first start for Leinster in September of last year.
With Carbery still on the comeback trail, Joe Schmidt opted to name only Paddy Jackson as back-up to Johnny Sexton at out-half for the first two rounds of the Six Nations.
If Carbery can make a convincing comeback for Leinster in the coming weeks, he holds out some hope of being involved in the Ireland set-up before the end of the Six Nations.
“Hopefully, but then it’s a big few weeks coming up for Leinster as well,” said Carbery. “So I need to perform well and see where that brings me.”
You can watch The42‘s full interview with Carbery on Monday.
