Connacht hope to reap rewards of Jack Carty call-up

Connacht's Jack Carty. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Andy Friend and his coaching crew in Connacht would have been more than relieved when Jack Carty received a call up to the Irish squad at the weekend after Jonathan Sexton was ruled out through injury.

Aside from being pleased to see their out-half recognised, Connacht officials must also be hoping that Carty, in the international wilderness for two years, gets a run on Sunday against Argentina and an 11th cap which might sway the 29-year old towards staying at the Sportsground.

Carty is one of several Irish players who last season only signed a one-year contract extension and having turned down overtures from at least one French club last winter, the Athlone native is very much keeping his options open at this stage of his career.

Carty seemed to be singled out more than anyone for Ireland’s shock defeat to hosts Japan two years ago in the World Cup and aside from an appearance off the bench against Russia a week later, he hasn’t had a look in since.

Andy Farrell left him out of his first Six Nations squad and while he briefly recalled him last autumn, Carty’s involvement didn’t extend beyond the training paddock.

Connacht had hoped that his brilliant form this season, having also taken on the captaincy in several games, would see him rewarded but Joey Carbery and Harry Byrne got the nod to support Sexton when Farrell announced his squad for the autumn games.

And with Byrne likely to be selected to back up Carbery for Sunday’s game, Carty would have to wait until the Six Nations for another international opportunity.

A glance at the IRFU website yesterday wouldn’t have instilled great confidence in Carty, where he is still listed among the ‘past players’ rather than the current squad.

He has chalked up 164 appearances for Connacht since his debut in 2012 but if the lure of adding to his Irish caps disappears, then the opportunity to experience fresh pastures could see his time at the Sportsground come to an end next summer.

He was 26 when he was capped off the bench for the first time against Italy in the Six Nations in February 2019. He made two more appearances as a replacement in that campaign against Wales and France and played in four warm-up games for the World Cup in Japan.

His only 80 minutes for Ireland was against Wales in one of those games, with cameos against Italy, England, and Wales before they departed for Japan.

Carty came off the bench for the final quarter in the 27-3 win over Scotland in Yokohama and then started against Japan when they fell to the shock 19-12 loss in Shizuoka Stadium, with Carbery replacing him after 61 minutes.

His last appearance in an Irish shirt came a week later when he came on for the second half against Russia, landing a couple of conversions in a 35-0 victory, but he did not feature in the win over Samoa or the 46-14 quarter-final loss to New Zealand when Carbery provided back-up to Sexton.

It remains to be seen whether he adds to those 10 caps and also whether Connacht can hold on to a player who is in the form of his life at the moment.