Like Coombes, ball is firmly in Carbery's court after Six Nations snub

SUCCESSOR? Joey Carbery, left, and Jonathan Sexton. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

It worked for Gavin Coombes but can the kick up the rear applied by Andy Farrell’s boot to Joey Carbery inspire the Ireland fly-half to take his playmaking to the next level?

There will have been displays of celebration and deep disappointment across the four provinces on Thursday morning as preparations for the final round of European pool matches this weekend were interrupted by Ireland’s squad announcement for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations championship. 

No more so than at Munster where news of the reinstatement of back-rower Coombes will have been juxtaposed by the omission of their first-choice number 10 ahead of next week’s pre-tournament training camp in Dublin and then Portugal.

Both players are expected to be named in Graham Rowntree’s starting line-up at noon for Sunday afternoon’s Pool B finale in Toulouse as their recent form in the BKT URC and Heineken Champions Cup merits. For Coombes, there will be the satisfaction that he reacted positively to being sent packing from Ireland camp at the start of November’s Autumn Nations Series following a below-standard outing in the A international against an All Blacks XV at the RDS.

A man of the match performance in last Saturday’s victory over Northampton Saints marked the continuation of some blistering recent form in red and did not go unrecognised by Munster head coach Rowntree, who cited the “kick up the backside” from the Irish management as being the catalyst for the West Cork No.8’s mid-season reboot.

It will be hoped a similar reaction will be provoked in Carbery, whose omission from the 37-man panel was the most surprising aspect of Farrell’s selection announcement.

There can be little doubt that Carbery has emerged favourably from the lengthy injury lay-off with wrist and ankle injuries that stymied his efforts to contribute to the 2019 World Cup campaign in Japan and sidelined him for the best part of the 18 months that followed. That he has been ever-present in Ireland’s matchday squads since his return to Test rugby in the July 2021 represents the belief that head coach Farrell believes he has the game not just to back up veteran captain Johnny Sexton as both a finisher and stand-in but is the man to take the number 10 jersey when the 37-year-old eventually retires.

The suspicion is, however, that more is required of Carbery than the solid performances he has been turning in this season and the 27-year-old needs to rediscover the flat-to-the-line, adventurous side to his game that marked him out as a rookie 10 making his debut off the bench and securing that historic first win over the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016.

Ireland will start the Six Nations with Leinster’s Ross Byrne and Carbery’s Munster rival Jack Crowley as Sexton’s fly-half cover in a squad that features just one uncapped player in 21-year-old utility back Jamie Osborne. Crowley turned 22 last Friday and wore the number 12 jersey on Carbery’s outside shoulder against Northampton, his stock having soared since the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa last October. 

The Irish management took a further look at him a month later when Crowley came off the bench behind the now-injured Ciaran Frawley for Ireland A against the Kiwis and finished the Autumn Nations Series with two caps, his debut coming as back-up to Carbery against Fiji when the starter sustained a head injury. When both Carbery and Sexton failed to pass fit the following week, it led to a surprise start for Crowley with Byrne drafted in as replacement for his first Ireland cap in 18 months.

Sexton’s game time since has been limited by injury but the captain looks set to prove his fitness following a cheekbone injury sustained on January 1 in time to win his 110th cap leading Ireland into their championship opener against Wales in Cardiff on February 4. 

Byrne has more than just kept the Leinster number 10 jersey in Sexton’s absence and having turned his nine-minute cameo off the bench against the Wallabies into a match-winning contribution with his late penalty kick his unruffled demeanour and exemplary game-management merits inclusion in this squad.

It will now be up to Carbery to prove he has it in him to go the extra yard and regain the faith of Farrell and reposition himself as the man to succeed Sexton.

Ireland 2023 Guinness Six Nations Squad:

Backs (17): B Aki (Connacht), R Byrne (Leinster), C Casey (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), K Earls (Munster), J Gibson Park (Leinster), M Hansen (Connacht), H Keenan (Leinster), J Larmour (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), C Murray (Munster), J O’Brien (Leinster), J Osborne (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster) – captain; J Stockdale (Ulster).

Forwards (20): R Baird (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), T Beirne (Munster), J Conan (Leinster), G Coombes (Munster), C Doris (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), I Henderson (Ulster), R Herring (Ulster), R Kelleher (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), J McCarthy (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster), A Porter (Leinster), C Prendergast (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), J van der Flier (Leinster).