Joe McCarthy more focused on the bread and butter than the bright lights

Leinster's Joe McCarthy. Pic: Will Morgan/Inpho

Rugby has never really done the superstar thing. Not in the way football has. 

Jonah Lomu was the first player to transcend the narrow confines of his own game, and Dan Carter’s boyish good looks helped him step outside those lines for a spell too.

Antoine Dupont has achieved mega stardom, but only really in his native France, so it will be fascinating to see how the commercial marriage of Henry Pollock and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable works out in the years to come.

Brian Moore, the former England hooker, is already sounding warnings to the young Northampton Saints player about the vagaries of the fame game. As for Ireland, the closest we ever came was Brian O’Driscoll.

Joe McCarthy has felt the flicker of this flame in times past.

His stunning performance for Ireland against France at the start of the 2024 Six Nations birthed the moniker of ‘Big Joe’, but he was helped in no small way by the distinctive mullet that caught the eye that night in Marseille.

The corporate world took note.

The Dubliner now has corporate deals with a sportswear brand, a car dealership and a mineral water company and it was the third of those that came up with the idea of churning out wigs in celebration of their client.

McCarthy first spotted them at the recent Ireland-Scotland game having been given a heads-up on the project beforehand. It’s not exactly Pollock, but it’s still unfamiliar territory for a man going about his daily basis.

“Yeah, I don't really know. It's kind of funny because you just play rugby the whole time and just enjoy it, and you go through the ranks. It’s, I suppose, a bit weird when the randomers know you. It’s a bit of a strange add-on to it, but it’s cool.” 

McCarthy is clearly most comfortable with his job on the field. He brings a size and raw power and physicality to his game that is not the norm for an Irish forward and he has waxed lyrical about his love for mauling more than once this year already.

He loves it, basically.

McCarthy has actually been used a bit more in the air at lineouts lately but it’s the grunt work on the ground after that initial put-in that really gets his juices flowing, and it all goes back to his days in Blackrock College.

Seamus Toomey, now the IRFU’s performance pathway scrum coach, worked with a number of players who would go on to Test honours during his time at the school and the maul was another key component of the work the students engaged in.

“I remember Thomas Clarkson was a year [ahead] at a school. He was playing 20s and he came down for a session against us as well. I don't think he was allowed by the Leinster coaches. He said to keep it under wraps.

“I think it was a week for the Six Nations when he was playing, which is a bit loose, but yeah, you just do that. And I remember our sessions were just like… It just drilled it into me. When I went to Ireland 20s or Leinster Academy, I felt like I got a bit of an edge on lads.

“I felt like I was way more developed in that area. I just love that part of the game. I’m excited to do it in training sessions, and attacking mauls, I feel I can punch well and add a bit there. So it's a big part of the game.” 

Sale should be right up his street in this Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final. Alex Sanderson teams tend to pride themselves on their physicality and that lineout maul is a staple of their diet in any given week.

The PREM team will be light on at least five key forwards for their visit to Dublin and, if Leinster have one or two injury concerns themselves, then the return last week after four months of Ryan Baird went a good way to alleviating those losses.

Baird’s impressive reappearance after a broken leg suffered against the Springboks last November came on the same week of news that RG Snyman is out for the season with an ACL, and with James Ryan sidelined for a less serious issue.

“Ryan's very detailed in his training and his little extras. He does like that. So he's a player you trust to come back up to speed.

“He's such a good athlete that you know he’s going to be fit and powerful. I always love playing with Ryan. He's great, especially around the lineout area. I always feel very confident going into a game with him.”