Joe McCarthy looking to build on World Cup experience with Leinster

PROGRESSION: Joe McCarthy. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

It’s too soon for it now but Joe McCarthy will find himself looking back at Ireland’s 2023 World Cup experience at some point down the line and appreciating how it super-charged his nascent professional career.

The Leinster lock was just a few months beyond his 22nd birthday when he reported for national duty in the middle of June. He had one cap to his name after a 21-minute debut against the Wallabies in Dublin the previous November.

By the time he got back to Leinster’s UCD base last Monday week he had banked a well of experiences that will stand to him going forward. Chief among them were the four caps, two of them in warm-ups, the other pair at the tournament itself.

His last input was a run in the closing quarter against New Zealand in the last eight. He came on with Andy Farrell’s side eight points adrift. Here, in this one moment, was proof of the regard with which he is held by the Ireland brains trust.

His involvement was predicated on misfortune elsewhere, as is so often the case in rugby. James Ryan’s hand injury widened the window of opportunity for that knockout involvement but it was McCarthy who made sure he had been poised ready on the ledge.

And that’s just the games.

McCarthy spent the bones of four months in camp with the Ireland squad, living and breathing rugby on an almost daily basis. There’s no way of knowing how much knowledge he absorbed, not least subconsciously.

“One hundred per cent. You’re with all the world-class players for 24-hours a day almost. You’re with the coaches the whole time and they can pick you up at any time for a small bit [of one-on-one chats], small things.

“You see how guys prepare for games because you are with them the whole week, the bits of video they do, the recovery work. Things like that. It was an intensive learning block for eight weeks [during the tournament].” 

The theory goes that Farrell and his assistants were eager to fast track McCarthy because of his size. Not so much his height, though he stands a fine 6’ 6”, but in the bulk which offers that bit more than your average Irish second row.

There’s more to him that, of course. Far more. But this is a player who has played just 19 times for Leinster. That’s only the 24 top-class games he has under his belt in total but here again comes the benefit from that World Cup hot house.

“You work with all the coaches, but especially Paul O’Connell for me. He is the best person you can learn off. He would sit down with me and we would talk about everything, trends in the game, or he will pull up a clip.

“I’m always working on my lineout. It would be a big thing for me to become a better jumper, calling, lineout defence; those areas are your main core skills as a second row.

“It was great being in camp for the whole time because every training session he’d have a clip for me, a small lift or a jump, which is class. He would help me work on my core skills, which are very important.” 

The return to Leinster brings with it a new dynamic, and not only in the absence of Johnny Sexton and whose retirement has led to the promotion as of yesterday of Ryan and Garry Ringrose to the roles of co-captains.

The absence of 17 international front-liners for the opening three URC games has offered opportunities to a host of younger candidates and McCarthy’s brother Paddy has been among the academy auditions to see game time.

The pair are close given they live together and work together – Joe was even wearing Paddy’s training top earlier this week – and the older sibling knows only too well that the pressure for places will not be limited to the more established types for long.

“It’s definitely helpful that we both play and he was successful last year with the [Ireland] 20s. I was in training last week and a lot of that 20s team was there. They are all class players. They are all pretty much ready to play games and to step up straight away.

“The standards are just higher every year from the 20s. You see the lads in the first three games and how they just slotted straight in and doing jobs. The quality is really high from all those guys.”