FORMER MUNSTER OUT-HALF and current Cork Constitution head coach Jonny Holland was a timely guest on this week’s Rugby Weekly Extra podcast for The42 members on which he joined host Gavan Casey to run the rule over Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad selection for the Six Nations.
Farrell caught the majority of Irish rugby fans off guard with a massive decision at out-half, with one of Holland’s successors in the Munster 10 jersey, Joey Carbery, being omitted from the 37-man selection.
The out-halves called up alongside Ireland captain Johnny Sexton were his Leinster teammate Ross Byrne and Munster young gun Jack Crowley, the latter of whom Holland has coached at Con on the occasions in which he has been available to the AIL Division 1A outfit since 2019.
Holland admitted that he was stunned to see Carbery left out of an Ireland squad for the first time while fully fit, but suggested that the 27-year-old’s measured recent performances had been simply outshone by that of Byrne at Leinster as well as the exciting potential upside of his fellow Munster 10 Crowley.
“I think that conversation is going to be quite difficult for Andy Farrell or whoever has to make that call, because I don’t think you can tell Joey that his form is particularly bad,” Holland said. “But you are saying that Ross Byrne has [overtaken him] and that Jack Crowley’s stock is rising quickly.
“It’s not like Carbery is playing poorly but other fellas are probably just outshining him a small bit.
And it’s a bit of catch-22 for Joey because when he was the ‘Jack Crowley’ — that young, exciting player — people wanted more control out of him. Now, he’s possibly giving you more control, and more of an understated performance in terms of bringing in the players around him, and we want ‘the old Joey Carbery’ back because Jack Crowley is giving us that excitement.
“I think these things happen in waves across a career, the ebbs and flows. Joey’s in one of those where he’s being quite controlled. He has definitely brought a very consistent kicking game, a very consistent organisational game. But then, all of a sudden, people don’t want that anymore; they want to get the spark back in his game, they want to get the excitement back.
“So, it’s a hard one for him but I do think he needs to bring another level back to his game.”
Holland, who played for Munster for three seasons before being forced to retire on medical grounds just days after his 25th birthday in 2016, also highlighted the human aspect to Carbery’s exclusion from Farrell’s 37-man panel.
“I feel for him in that he’s not only dealing with not being in the squad, but all the headlines,” the former out-half explained. “It’s quite jarring and shocking and everybody’s talking about him so much. I suppose there’s a bit of a backhanded compliment in that — that people are shocked that he’s out of the squad.
But it’s hard enough to be left out, never mind having to face the people around you, those who are closest to you, and having to chat about something that you’re not really ready to chat about yet.
“And it’s just plastered all over, everywhere. Like, he can’t go onto social media now, I’d imagine. It’s a massive blow for him. It’s a rough one.”
Holland described Leinster out-half Ross Byrne as being “fully worthy” of his selection in Farrell’s squad.
He stopped short, however, of agreeing that Byrne is definitively playing career-best rugby for his province, stressing that the 27-year-old had a couple of times in the past run the bulk of Leinster’s European campaigns in Johnny Sexton’s absence.
Holland instead suggested that Byrne might be simply “turning heads again”, perhaps partly as a result of his winning kick against Australia under the national spotlight in November.
“I think the fact that he’s always played for a very good Leinster side has both worked for and against him. Some people will presume that he’s only going well because Leinster can’t lose or Leinster get go-forward ball all the time.
“His kicking has always been phenomenal and he’s now a more mature player, he knows what he can bring.
“Whereas before he was always seen as Johnny Sexton’s double, I think he’s found a bit of a niche at the moment with the way the game has gone: everyone flat to the line and pushing people through gaps in the second pod. He can do that, he facilitates people into the game.
“Maybe he’s just found his niche in between all of the all-out attack from the other out-halves.”
Holland remains unsure as to which of Crowley or Byrne — who started and finished November’s Wallabies test respectively — will assume Carbery’s role as Ireland’s next man up in the event that Sexton misses time through injury.
Indeed, he believes there might not yet be a definitive answer due to their stylistic differences, and that Farrell’s depth chart may remain fluid depending on circumstance.
“If Johnny Sexton is injured before a team announcement, does Ross Byrne go in as your experienced started and run the team? And if he’s not going to start (in the event that Sexton is fit), does he fall out of the 23 and Jack Crowley goes on the bench as that person who brings impact?
“So, Jack Crowley could be not an exact second-choice starter, but could be the player who comes in to change the game.
“Now, maybe that’s a bit simplistic because if you’re going to bring impact, then why can’t you have that same impact from the start of a game? We’re just guessing.”
Holland, who has coached Crowley with Cork Con in AIL Division 1A, also gave The42 members detailed insight into the Bandon product, whom he described as being “more obsessed than coaches” with the sport of rugby.
To hear that, as well as his thoughts on Farrell’s several other big selection calls and Ben Healy’s decision to move to Scotland, become a member of The42 at members.the42.ie.
