THE NEW CAPTAINCY group in Connacht is finding its feet happily, even if it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
Jack Carty is now the official captain, backed up by vice-captains Jarrad Butler and Bundee Aki. The Ireland centre has grown visibly in this area over the last few years and is excellent at motivating his team-mates.
However, Aki hasn’t lost the streak of divilment he has always possessed.
“We were doing a thing in Cheathrú Rua in the Gaeltacht last week and we were racing Galway Hooker boats,” explains Carty.
“You were meant to give right of way to other boats. His boat was coming one way and ours was coming the other way and the boom of their boat went straight through the sail of ours and we had to retire from the race. So hopefully he’ll be better than that!
“He was screaming and laughing.”
Carty says it was a great honour to officially take over as Connacht skipper, having done a huge amount of the captaincy already last season.
There were lessons in that experience for a player who hasn’t always been in this kind of role and he will lean on Butler and Aki.
“To be honest, it took a lot out of me at the end of last year, especially when results weren’t going our way. You take everything a lot more personally. So it’s one of those things that I reflected on over the off-season in terms of how to deal with that better.
“Having JB and Bundee there is very much one person stepping forward and the other two can step back. We’ll manage the whole thing together.”
Carty is enthusiastic about the start of this season after what was a disappointing campaign for Connacht in 2021/22. His own season ended early due to needing surgery on a wrist injury, which ruled him out of possible involvement on Ireland’s tour of New Zealand.
It was an issue that dated back to the Rainbow Cup in 2021 and he had been managing it ever since. Carty is touch-and-go to be fit for Connacht’s URC opener against Ulster next weekend but he’s now very close to a return.
“I was fine in games but it was the day-to-day stuff of catching balls, it was quite painful. So I went over to Leeds to see what the story was with it.
“My grip strength was deteriorating and deteriorating and it was a thing where I could get it done now or wait until after November 2023 [when the World Cup finishes], which is obviously what I’m going towards.
“If something had happened in between that timeline and it got worse, then I would definitely have ruled myself out for it, so I had to take a calculated guess and a shot to get it done and start again where I am now.”
Carty is always honest and he flags the World Cup in November next year as being a big target.
“I also am aware that I’m now 30 and they may look at younger players,” says Carty. “However, I’m confident that if we in Connacht have a good season and push towards finals and that if I play a prominent role in that, it will be tough not to be in that selection call.
“Fortunately, touch wood, I have been lucky with injuries and that’s kind of how I got in in 2019. That’s how I managed to get in last year again, so all I can do is worry about my form and then hopefully the rugby gods will kind of get me in there and have more of a bigger role to play than over the last few years.”
Carty isn’t without his critics. La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara is among those who have suggested that the Connacht man needs consistency to be a regular Ireland player. ROG also pointed to Carty being at 10 for Connacht for their 56-8 hammering at the hands of Edinburgh last season, as well as highlighting as forward pass Carty threw during an eight-minute cameo off the bench for Ireland against France in the Six Nations.
Carty read those words and admits that they initially stung.
“When I saw that, firstly I was hurt enough because actually I look up to ROG,” he says.
“But I suppose you have to take a level of maturity from it and instead of pointing fingers at everyone else, look at it.
“The Edinburgh game was a disappointing one but I would look at it and say how 10s had poor performances in that circle [of Ireland out-halves] that didn’t get pointed at. But, yeah, hurt enough when he said that alright.
“I obviously had to look inward and say, ‘Is what is he saying true?’ And when I look back at that Edinburgh performance, yeah, it would have been true so I had to take what he said from it and look at my game, look at the peers around me. There were 23 players that day who performed really poorly.
“It comes with the territory. I’m sure he would have had someone do that to him when he was playing so it is part and parcel of the job.”
The focus now for Carty is on helping Connacht to hit new heights this season. He reckons the new artificial surface at the Sportsground could be a competitive advantage for them given the pace they’ll be able to play at.
He speaks positively about new signings like skillful loosehead prop Peter Dooley, ferocious back row/lock Josh Murphy, aerially powerful Adam Byrne, intelligent out-half David Hawkshaw, and dynamic Kiwi back row Shamus Hurley-Langton and Aussie centre/wing Byron Ralston, as well as highlighting that more promising young players are coming through into the senior squad.
Carty also likes how the Connacht coaches have rejigged their responsibilities, with Andy Friend in more of a management role as director of rugby, head coach Peter Wilkins plotting their game plans and defence, Mossy Lawler running the attack, Dewald Senekal organising their lineout and maul, and Colm Tucker focused on scrum and breakdown.
“We can speak about it now in terms of our consistency, but the players we have brought in, the players who have come through, then the bit of foreign x-factor we have brought in, there’s a lot of resemblance to the 2016 season in the feeling I have got,” says Carty.
“That’s how we’re looking at it and we’re really excited for the start of the season.”
