THE STANDOUT PERFORMANCE of an up-and-coming fly-half from Athy for Munster against the Sharks was touched on for discussion during today’s Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
Whether the player-of-the-match showing on Saturday heralds a return to form for Joey Carbery or not, his display did hint at a mindset which could serve him well in the post Johnny Sexton era of Irish rugby.
Carbery was No 2 to Sexton until the start of this year before being overtaken by Ross Byrne and subsequently Jack Crowley for province and country. Yet a fully fit Carbery, with something to prove, could stake a compelling claim to the red and, indeed, green No 10 shirt.
“This guy Joey Carbery looks like a decent prospect, doesn’t he?” said Murray Kinsella, rugby journalist with The 42. “A nice bit of bite to his performance. Definitely some classy passing skills. It was really good to see, and I did think there was a bit of bite to him which I thought was the bit that was missing to him maybe last season or even beyond that.
“And he was so aggressive in his intent, and there was some really nice examples of his vision as well.”
Kinsella added of the province’s 34-21 win: “A really pleasing performance from Munster to start the season. Obviously lots in it but it was quite disciplined, I think they only conceded five penalties which is rare in a game of rugby. They made eight line breaks.
“Some of the invention and off-the-ball workrate that was prominent last year was really prominent again. You could see how quick they wanted to play. How often did they say to the referee, ‘They need to roll out quicker, we just want to play at speed’? They’re keen to hammer home that view of themselves, but also that outside view of them – that they’re a team who play at speed.”
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