Today more of a trial than a test for Jack Carty

Jack Carty turns 27 today. He has spent a long time proving himself but it is an age since he faced a test — with a small ‘t’ — like this.

Rugby skeptics love to nitpick about ‘Test’ matches.

Even Ireland’s historic defeats of New Zealand in Chicago and Dublin had their value queried by those who grind their teeth at talk of ‘Rugby Country’ and scoff at the all-too-familiar sight of an Irish team scurrying for home after another World Cup quarter-final defeat.