Joey Carbery ticking and kicking all right boxes for Munster

Joey Carbery’s mission to make a difference as Munster’s fly-half is being driven by his ambition to match his predecessors in the famous red ‘10’ jersey.

Eight days on from turning in a man-of-the-match performance with two tries and 16 points from the kicking tee in a bonus-point victory at Gloucester, the 23-year-old dug deep at Thomond Park on Saturday night to deliver another perfect display with the boot to secure top spot in Heineken Champions Cup Pool 2 and book an 18th quarter-final berth for his new province in the competition that means most.

Carbery, who joined from home province Leinster last summer in search of a regular start at fly-half and the exposure in the position that he hopes will earn him a World Cup squad place with Ireland in Japan this September, enhanced his credentials for the second week in a row as he kicked three penalties from three attempts to steer Munster past Exeter Chiefs.

It was the sort of European night in front of a capacity 26,276 crowd that encapsulated why he had taken the opportunity to join Leinster’s oldest rivals, even if meant joining a squad already home to four senior fly-halves and would draw inevitable comparisons with Munster’s most famous incumbent of the jersey, Ronan O’Gara.

“The people who have played ‘10’ ahead of me and in the years gone by, are extremely good players and it’s a big role to fill,” Carbery said.

“I suppose it’s kind of driving me on to be a better player and make the job easier for the team-mates around me. I’ve said it a few times but we’ve learned so much from these last four games that I think it just gives us a mindset to be excited, and feel like we can take on anyone.”

Carbery’s third penalty of the night, in the 72nd minute clinched Munster’s victory after the home side had conceded a first-half try from Don Armand to trail 7-6 at the interval.

It was Carbery’s 20th consecutive success from the tee since his off-night with the boot at Castres in round four when he had returned just four from seven attempts in 13-12 defeat by the French champions.

Obviously I’m pretty happy with it (20 from 20) but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes going on and help that we’re getting to improve individual skills. We’re having kicking competitions to put us under that bit of pressure so when it comes to a game we know what it feels like.

Head coach Johann van Graan paid tribute to Carbery’s resilience.

“The very first day I met him, I asked him ‘why do you want to come to Munster?’ He said he wanted to come to make a difference and to fit in and he wants to make this a better team. He’s done so with every single action of his on and off the field.

“After the Castres game when he missed maybe one or two penalties, to come back and kick 20 out of 20, that’s incredible. That’s a sign of pure class.