Joey Carbery Sets Sights on Ireland Return as World Cup Year Approaches
Joey Carbery wants to be back in the Ireland side, and he has said so openly. Speaking to Ireland Rugby Social, the fly-half (the number 10 who directs the attack and usually does the kicking) said playing for his country is his ambition heading into a World Cup year.
It has been a long road back. Carbery's last Test cap came in Ireland's November 2022 win over Fiji. His first came in another November win, over the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016. In between, he was left out of Ireland's Six Nations and World Cup squads in 2023.
He spent the past two years outside the Irish system. The path went through Munster, then France. Carbery left Leinster for Munster in the summer of 2018, and he has said his choice came down to one question: did he want to play for Ireland? Ulster and Munster were both options at the time. Looking back, he said Joe Schmidt, then Ireland's head coach, wanted him at fly-half and would not pick him anywhere else. Leinster's Stuart Lancaster, meanwhile, had often used him at full-back, the player who stands deepest and covers the back of the field.
His Munster spell ended badly, by his own account. He described going from a starter to being completely cut off, with no feedback and no answers. He also said Andy Farrell rang him personally to say he would not be in the World Cup squad.
Next came Bordeaux-Begles. Carbery said he was mentally in a bit of a rut, and Noel McNamara, then working in the French club's set-up, asked whether he would be interested in joining. Injuries limited him to four starts there last season.
He is now back at Leinster, but he has made only two starts since rejoining. Farrell's latest Ireland squad did not include him. Instead, he was named in Mark Sexton's Ireland XV for the match against Fiji 'A' in Cork. Carbery called that selection a foot back in the door of the Irish system. He said he wants to let his rugby do the talking to earn a recall, and that returning home is about giving the next three or four years his best shot.
The Leinster coaching picture is shifting too. McNamara has been confirmed as successor to Leo Cullen, with this season being Cullen's last in charge. Carbery pointed out some parallels between McNamara and Schmidt. Both were schoolteachers, both went to play or work in France, and both returned to the Leinster head coach role.
Carbery is 30 [note: omitted]. For a player who has been in and out of the picture for most of a decade, the message is simple. He is back at home, he is fit enough to start games again, and he wants the Ireland jersey back.
