Joey Carbery puts friendships on hold for derby duel between Leinster and Munster

One would imagine that the cups of coffee Joey Carbery says he has enjoyed with former Leinster team-mates on trips home since leaving his native province were put on hold this week as the Ireland fly-half steeled himself for a first derby in red.

Carbery and lock Tadhg Beirne will this evening become the latest M7 emigrés to play for Munster against Leinster when the old rivals meet for the first time this season at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in Guinness PRO14 round six.

Johann van Graan’s new signings will have plenty of support from those who have crossed the divide once considered a heinous crime but that now merely represents the current reality of four Irish provinces serving the greater good of the national team.

In Carbery’s backline at full-back is fellow former Leinsterman Andrew Conway while attack coach Felix Jones is another.

Munster have leaked a few the other way of course, though often more circuitously with Limerick-born hooker Sean Cronin named on Leinster’s bench tonight for potentially his 158th appearance in blue. Yet given the island’s population balance is tilted firmly in Dublin’s corner, it should come as no surprise that it is the capital and its province that sends more homegrown players outside the Pale than welcomes outsiders in.

The more fluid movement of players and the project player phenomenon that will soon come to an end is also reflected in the Munster team’s profile this evening. Added to the three from Leinster is Sammy Arnold, a product of the Exiles pathway from England via Ulster, two South African-born forwards and a New Zealander at scrum-half.

That leaves just eight Munstermen in the starting XV.

That is not to question the commitment of said imports in any shape or form but it does explain the feelings articulated by Leinster full-back Rob Kearney this week that the “hate” has gone from this rivalrs.

Kearney, who makes his 200th appearance for Leinster this evening, recalled a derby game early in his career in 2006/07 when Munster ran out 33-9 winners at Musgrave Park. The side he faced had 13 Munster natives.

Conway, who reaches a 100-game milestone for his adopted province tonight, understands that this game may have more added significance for first-timer Carbery, particularly as his move south from Leinster was prompted by a request from the Irish team management who wished to see their preferred back-up to Johnny Sexton playing more often at fly-half ahead of next year’s World Cup in Japan.

Yet Conway has some words of comfort for his new team-mate and fellow exile, that such thoughts of facing old colleagues is quickly forgotten once you cross the white line.

“What’s it like for Joey, what’s it like for the first time and he’s probably thinking about it going back and playing your old team but once you’re out there and play them once it becomes familiar after that,” Conway said this week.

Familiarity within the national set-up and the continuing Leinster exodus is an obvious factor in this tempering of emotions and as Irish Examiner writer Brendan O’Brien pointed out, so too is Leinster’s recent dominance of this fixture, Leo Cullen’s side winning all three of last season’s meetings, the most recent in the PRO14 semi-final at the RDS which ended Munster’s 2017-18 campaign.

That this fixture does not carry the significance for a senior Leinster player that perhaps a clash with Welsh rivals Scarlets does now, may say much about the level last season’s PRO14 and European champions are operating at.

That statement alone may also rekindle some of the bitterness in the visiting dressing room at the Aviva tonight.