Leinster and IRFU on different wavelengths over Joey Carbery question

Leo Cullen has already confirmed Leinster’s interest in Joey Carbery. It looks a done deal and the suspicion is that Leinster will be pleased enough to get the better of the union

DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS: Joey Carbery playing in Belfast or Limerick would be infinitely better in the eyes of the IRFU. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

There are 18 out-halves listed on the books of the IRFU’s four provinces right now. Most of those are doing a job in the various senior squads. A third are still learning their trade in academy workshops.

That’s a wide spread of talent, experience and potential in this post-Johnny Sexton world, and the recent speculation over Joey Carbery’s impending return to Ireland next season only highlights the extent to which it is such an open and fluid field.

Carbery has already played for Leinster and Munster. Go back to October and Bernard Jackman was arguing that the union should put enough readies together to bring the No.10 home from Bordeaux-Begles and connect him in to the Connacht grid.

Stuart Lancaster signing Ciarán Frawley soon after pulled the plug on that but, while Leinster are now the clear frontrunners in repatriating the Athy man, there is a persuasive case to be made for him playing a role with the other two.

What is inarguable is the fact that Carbery playing in Belfast or Limerick would be infinitely better in the eyes of the IRFU who would much prefer to see their playing resources spread more evenly across the wider club landscape.

Ulster’s interest in Carbery was flagged before Leinster’s and it’s easy to see the attraction of such a signing for Richie Murphy given the enormous workload – well over 600 minutes to date - being asked of his young son Jack this season.

James Humphreys, whose son father David is the IRFU high-performance director and the man whose job it is to sprinkle these resources in such a way as to benefit everybody, Jake Flannery and young apprentice Dan Green make up the rest of their depth chart.

Carbery is 30 years of age now, but has had to play second fiddle to Matthieu Jalibert at Bordeaux and, even worse, make do with a seat in the stands for some of the Top 14 side’s biggest days. That includes their Champions Cup final win in Cardiff last term.

The Kildare man is richly talented but his career has been one of what ifs given he was stuck behind Sexton at Leinster and Ireland and cursed by injury at Munster. He wouldn’t be the first Irish playmaker to make for Belfast seeking a relaunch and a Test return.

Ian Madigan was only a year older when he swapped Bristol for Ulster in 2020 and made public his intention to fight for the green jersey again. He never came close but Ravenhill would be Carbery’s best bet for regular starts at club level if nothing else.

A second Munster stint wouldn’t be such a bad idea either. Jack Crowley is the main man but the gap is considerable from him to JJ Hanrahan and Tony Butler with both Dylan Hicks and Tom Wood still learning the trade from the academy.

As for Leinster, Sam Prendergast’s rapid rise with club and country hasn’t been without its air pockets and Harry Byrne’s winning input against La Rochelle over the weekend showed again that he has ambitions of achieving bigger things again.

Byrne is out of contract this summer but is being tied down for longer. The rest of the depth chart once Frawley departs consists of Charlie Tector, who is making his name at 12, and the Austrian wunderkind Caspar Gabriel.

Leo Cullen has already confirmed Leinster’s interest in Carbery. It looks a done deal at this stage and the suspicion is that Leinster will be pleased enough to get the better of the union if this does come to pass.

They might see it as a line drawn in the sand.

The push to populate the ranks of the other provinces with graduates of Leinster schools and programmes has irritated Cullen and others in the UCD HQ in the past. Their argument would be that they are only ever an injury or two away from being light in any area.

“That’s part of sport,” Cullen all but shrugged in May of 2019 before Carbery returned to the RDS to play in a red jersey for the first time. It was different last Friday when he said some people “didn’t cover themselves in glory” in pushing for Carbery’s move at the time.

As for the player itself, having played an average of 40 minutes per game across seven appearances for Bordeaux before this weekend’s meeting with Northampton Saints, there is also the fact that he is far more likely to win trophies in Dublin.

His utility value arguably worked against him in his first stint at Leinster with the club seeing him as a full-back and Joe Schmidt envisaging a future at out-half, but it does at least make him a valuable commodity when choosing a matchday 23.

All of which leaves us 800 words in and yet to touch on anything beyond the sporting considerations. Carbery is married with a young family and he has connections in Dublin. None of that should be overlooked when judging this from a distance.