YOU’D FORGIVE JACK Carty for never wanting this season to end, a year in which the Connacht out-half has hit a rich vein of form and been suitably rewarded in the form of a breakthrough at international level.
Few would argue against the assertion that Carty has been the most in-form 10 in Ireland this term, having been absolutely central to Connacht’s revival under Andy Friend, while staking a firm claim for a place in Joe Schmidt’s World Cup squad.
The Athlone man may only have made three second-half cameos during the Six Nations but his 0verall attitude and affable personality in camp and in the dressing room, coupled with the confidence and conviction he brings in the pivot position, ensured he made a big impression at Carton House.
Carty, by his own admission, has exceeded expectations this season and in the green of Connacht tops the Pro14′s points list with 149, has contributed 10 try assists and has produced big moments for Friend’s side, most recently his virtuoso score in the pivotal win over Cardiff Blues in Galway.
The 26-year-old has emerged as a totemic figure for the western province, embodying the renewed levels of confidence and freedom Friend has granted, while displaying absolute certainty in every decision he makes and play he calls.
His consistency of performance and overall influence for Connacht on their run to the Challenge Cup quarter-finals and Pro14 play-offs is reflected in his nomination for both the 2019 Zurich Players’ Player of the Year award and the Supporters Player of the Year award.
Two of the areas of improvement Carty identified at the start of the season were his place-kicking and defensive contributions, the former always tricky to manage when playing home games in the wildly inconsistent micro-climate of the Sportsground.
But working alongside Ireland kicking coach Richie Murphy and learning from Johnny Sexton and Joey Carbery in national camp, Carty has made huge strides in this aspect in recent times, evidenced by his 80% success rate off the tee in the Pro14 this season.
“This season I’ve started using a focus coach in Galway,” he explains.
“It’s quite difficult to explain, so basically it measures how you can block out conscious thoughts and tap into your subconscious. So when you’re doing a process it’s the same no matter what you’re doing.
“I use it, as does Dave Heffernan. So both of us do it. Effectively what you do is put a headband around your head which measures your different brainwaves that your brain is outputting and then you put an iPad in front of you and it’s kind of weird but something pops up on the screen and basically when your brainwaves are in the correct threshold it’ll shoot green and if it’s not it’ll shoot red.
“It obviously teaches your brain whenever you’re within the correct threshold. It releases dopamine to train your brain to be in the correct midframe.
“For some fellas, they think it’s the biggest gimmick in the world, some might use it and it might not work for them but it’s given me maybe 2 or 3% extra and when you have 2 or 3% it ends up adding up and hopefully it can keep working for me.”
While Carty has really enjoyed the benefits this season, making incremental improvements across all aspects of his game has been a steady process over a longer period.
In addition to his assured place-kicking, Carty has a number of attacking weapons in his armoury, with his creativity really coming to the fore under the guidance of Friend. Flat passes, offloads, chip attempts and cross-field kicks are all now firmly part of his game, while his tackle completion rate is on the up too.
The focus has been on putting it all together on a consistent basis, having been frustrated by up-and-down form during the early years of his Connacht career, pockmarked by ‘little errors here and there’.
“I always knew that if I’d got my performances to a level of consistency, I could put myself up for [Ireland] selection,” Carty continues.
“Probably over a couple of years, there would have been scenarios in games where I would’ve played really well. But then the following week there would be a slight drop-off. I think once I was able to play at a level more consistently, it [made me] easier to be picked up.
“I think it was always going to be down to level of performance, level of consistency. If I did get an opportunity from Joe and from the Irish set up I would be prepared and ready to take.
“And I did really enjoy it [the Six Nations]. I learned a lot as a player and obviously learned from Johnny [Sexton], Joey [Carbery], and Ross [Byrne]. I just kind of saw how they did things on a day-to-day basis. It gave me a good insight into how I can prepare differently I suppose.”
Carty hopes his form holds and he has shown enough this season to earn a seat on the plane for Japan, but his immediate thoughts are on Saturday’s Pro14 quarter-final as Connacht return to the end-of-season play-offs for the first time since winning the title in 2016.
The province’s performances and style of play in Friend’s first season have certainly resembled the hallmarks of that title-winning side under Pat Lam, and Connacht travel to Belfast this weekend with no shortage of confidence.
“Andy has firstly given players confidence and you can see that’s gone across the board. Players are playing with confidence, the team is playing with confidence,” Carty adds.
“Probably one of the big things that he has added or changed is the culture around the place. When people speak about culture you think they’re talking about giving out to fellas or standards but he has always talked about rewarding players.
“If someone does something good for players to reward each other. There are certain small things. There was a new player who was coming into the environment and had a good session but Friendy at the end was sure to congratulate him in front of the group and what that does is just gives loads of guys confidence.
“When you have young lads coming through with confidence and knowing your coach is going to support you and the players around you are going to back you, it’s a very special place to work.
“We’ll have our work cut out against Ulster this weekend but if we can go up there and give a performance like we’ve been giving we’ll definitely be in with a shout in or around 80 minutes.”
James Ryan and Jack Carty were on hand to announce the nominees for the 2019 Zurich Players’ Player of the Year Award. The Zurich Irish Rugby Players Awards, one of the biggest nights in Irish sport, will take place on Wednesday 15 May, at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge.
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