Leinster have tapped into Joey Carbery's Bordeaux education 

Tommy O'Brien and Carbery have spent quite a bit of time together this summer as they have been working their way back to full fitness

After two years in France, Joey Carbery has returned to Ireland and Leinster. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Leinster have been tapping into Joey Carbery's unique rugby experience in a bid to add that crucial je ne sais quoi to their agonising Champions Cup quest.

Now 30 years of age, Carbery controversially left Leinster for Munster in 2018 and stayed with the Reds for six seasons before joining Bordeaux Bégles in the summer of 2024.

Two years on, Carbery has returned to his provincial roots after a real education in French rugby with the back to back Champions Cup winners, a team blessed with possibly the club game's most exciting backline and one coached by an Irishman, Noel McNamara.

"Fantastic," said Tommy O'Brien, summing up Carbery's presence around Leinster HQ.

The pair have spent quite a bit of time together this summer as they have been working their way back to full fitness.

"That kind of rugby IQ, being able to pick his brains personally and then in meetings and stuff we've been trying to find out a little bit about what goes on.

"It is quite as French as you imagine, they just do their own thing sometimes, he was saying, but some of that stuff is great."

O'Brien was two years behind Carbery at Blackrock College, but he did get to train with the versatile Kildare man when he was in Leinster's academy and before Carbery left for Munster.

As far as O'Brien is concerned, Leinster and Ireland's attack could do with a sprinkling of that French backline magic.

"You can probably say that maybe we're sometimes a little bit too structured and that's what's got us great success," reflected the Dubliner.

"But there's obviously an element there to that, and the structure is to create opportunities and then you've got to be able to express yourself rather than relying on the structure to break teams down, 100%.

"So there's been some great learnings there and I think he's going to be great for the likes of Caspar (Gabriel) and mentoring these young guys.

"Hopefully they (the coaches) are going to want them to step up a little bit, but Joey is obviously keen to play as much as he can and get himself back in the Irish mix as well.

"He looks like he's in good shape at the moment so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do for us out there."

O'Brien can't stress enough the importance of figures like Carbery within the squad because he himself has benefited from the mindset that Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, Leinster's two Kiwi imports over the past couple of seasons, have brought to the set up.

"Yeah, Jordie was incredible," O'Brien said. "He was one of those people when you trained, he just had such an insane growth mindset."

The 27-year-old recalls how, after training, Barrett would ask Sam Prendergast to kick up as many of his spiral bombs as he could.

"Some lads would be like, 'Oh, I don't want to drop these and look bad'," O'Brien said. "But Jordie just wanted to challenge himself the whole time.

"And that comes from when you're so well established, everyone knows how good you are, it doesn't matter if you make a few mistakes in training. Those kinds of things where he just always wanted to get better, that was amazing."

Ioane was different in terms of being such a good physical athlete and what he could do with the ball, his ability to break tackles and create openings.

"And something that I probably need to work on in my game is to beat my man," O'Brien admitted. "I think Irish wingers are often very good at knowing the system, working hard, fitting in quite well into the system.

"But it's probably why the likes of a Lowey (James Lowe) has had so much success and is so popular with fans, because he can do that by beating people one-on-one.

"So it's definitely a work-on for myself and a few others, I think."

While a groin injury suffered in the URC final victory kept him out of Ireland's Nations Championship games in Australia and New Zealand, O'Brien had his own wedding to look forward to and he tied the knot with new bride Zoe, in Ballymacgarvey Village in Meath less than a fortnight ago.

A five-day honeymoon in Greece followed but he's hoping, after completing a few fitness tests this week, to return to full training next week before making the trip to South Africa for the URC opener against the Lions.

What he's really looking forward to is running out at the RDS and the redeveloped Laya Arena again after a two year absence for its revamp.

"There's something about having a smaller stadium," O'Brien said. "Even though at the Aviva we were actually getting good attendances, because it's in a 52,000-seater, you're never going to be filling that and it seemed like there was a smaller attendance than it actually was.

"Whereas if you get those 20,000 or so, if you can get the RDS full, it's an unbelievable atmosphere. I think La Rochelle and other grounds are about 16,000, but it's full every week, and it seems like a lot more than 16,000 when they're all on top of you.

"So, we're definitely looking forward to getting that environment going and a good buzz going back in with the fans again."