In the ongoing Irish rugby obsession with the outhalf position, the question has, not for the first time this year, spun around to whither the talented Joey Carbery.
Munster did not have the 27-year-old on the bench last weekend for their high-octane, characterful win over Stormers, which secured a place in the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs. Qualification for next season’s Champions Cup is still to be secured against the Sharks this weekend.
Munster preferred Jack Crowley and Ben Healy off the bench to their now third-pick 10, who made his international debut in Ireland’s historic win over the All Blacks in Chicago in November 2016.
In January during the Six Nations Championship, Carbery, with more than his fair share of injury setbacks in his career, was omitted from Ireland’s 37-man Six Nations squad. That hurt, and watching now from outside the tent in Munster will be even more wounding.
“Yeah, absolutely it has been very tough for him, very tough,” says Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast. “He has taken it as well as he can in terms of being a professional and getting on with his job. Even at training and meetings he’s still speaking in a positive manner, which is a really good sign of the type of the guy he is.
“It has been really tough for him. But look, we select teams from week to week and this is what we feel. What we said last week and obviously the discussion we will have going into the game again and his name will obviously be back in there.
“We’ll see how we are going to set up from an attack point of view this weekend and see what 10 we start with and what 10 goes on to the bench.”
Carbery brings a wealth of experience to the position and has been capped 37 times. But form, not history, is currency and the player’s confidence is not just a national rugby question but, closer to home, an issue that Munster need to try to solve for their own welfare and that of their outhalf.
Healy is leaving for Edinburgh at the end of the season, with Gregor Townsend and Scotland his chosen future, yet last week Munster could not see beyond him as back up to Crowley.
Cold and tactical is how professional rugby operates. But Munster is not entirely devoid of less ruthless instincts and looking out for players in all their needs seems the sensible approach.
“Yeah, it’s one of those ones,” says Prendergast. “I’d be the type of coach and the rest of the staff would be very much inclined in terms of a familial perspective and they’d be there for him as well. Look, it has been a tough couple of months. There’s part of the season we’ve got to go and Joey will be part of that as well.
“Yep, huge talent. That doesn’t go away. He has opportunities. Obviously, we play this weekend. We got to see what happens there. Naturally, if we progress there will be more games behind that. How he trains, his reaction and as I’ve said he’s reacted as I guessed he would, a good bloke, a good pro, a good guy. We will bring all that into conversation and see what we’ll do next.”
If Munster perform as they did last week, they can be confident of claiming a Champions Cup place.
It’s unthinkable that Munster wouldn’t be a central part of a competition they dominated and helped to shape for years at the beginning of this century. Whoever starts at outhalf will be under no illusions.
Munster are coming into the game off the back of recently losing to Sharks. Prendergast suggests the pain of that defeat has contributed to their recent upsurge.
“Look, on the way down we were a wounded animal, I suppose, in terms of our previous performance against the Sharks. We played Sharks two weeks ago and obviously there was a lot of hurt coming into the Stormers game and in terms of our performance we are still hurting from that,” he says.
“If you get the performance right, everything else will push into place and we are a club that always want to be in the Champions Cup and that’s no different this year.
“It’s the last game of the regular league season and we want to finish that off on a high, especially after last weekend. We really want to back up that performance. That really is the big message this weekend.”
Munster will have to do it without RG Snyman, who did have an impact last week but will not be part of this week. Having made too few outings this season, the Springbok will follow the return-to-play protocols and is unavailable for Saturday’s game.
On the upside, Sean O’Brien has been signed on a two-year deal in advance of the 2023/24 season. The centre has been playing with the Premiership’s Exeter Chiefs for the past two seasons.
“He plays 12, 13 and he can play on the wing,” says Prendergast. “He is someone that we identified would enhance what we are trying to do, especially from an attack point of view.”
