RUGBY
A new star is born for Leinster
By Daire Walsh
JOEY Carbery had a home Leinster debut to remember at the RDS last Friday evening, when he claimed two first-half tries in a 20-8 success against Benetton Treviso in the province’s opening game of the 2016/17 Guinness Pro12 season.
For his exploits on the night, the Athy man was awarded man-of-the-match, and although it was a far from vintage display by Leo Cullen’s charges, it was the first time in three years that they were victorious in their opening encounter of a new campaign.
With Jonathan Sexton not considered for selection, this was an ideal opportunity for a player to establish himself as the main challenger to the Rathgar native at out-half. Cathal Marsh made a total of 13 first-team appearances for the Blues last season, but Carbery’s impressive form in the past couple of seasons for the Ireland U20s, Leinster ‘A’s and Clontarf led to him receiving the nod in Cullen’s first competitive starting line-up of the new term.
Carbery was joined in the defence by Suncroft’s Fergus McFadden, while James Tracy was also included amongst the replacements.
There was also Irish interest in the Treviso ’23’ for this game, with former Leinster fly-half Ian McKinley making his debut for the Italians in the second-half.
McKinley was forced to retire in 2011 because of a horrific eye injury that he sustained playing for UCD a year earlier, but after specially designed protective eye goggles were trialled by World Rugby, he returned to competitive action in Italy.
Initially, Ireland didn’t take part in this experiment, but following a change in policy on this side of the pond, he featured for Zebre against Ulster at Kingspan Stadium last season. He was given a warm welcome by the Leinster faithful upon his introduction, and they had reason to be pleased with the contribution of their new No 10 at the Ballsbridge venue.
With just three minutes gone on the clock, Carbery broke through underneath the posts for a deadlock-breaking score, and his five-pointer was supplemented by a comprehensive bonus kick from McFadden.
Leinster did find it difficult to build on their advantage against Kieran Crowley’s visitors, but they eventually created further daylight between the teams when Carbery crossed over in the left-corner at the end of a lung-bursting run. McFadden was off-target with his second conversion of the evening, but he made amends by subsequently adding three points to his side’s tally.
However, it was Treviso who had the final say in the half, as – following approach work by Tommaso Allan – Marco Fuser claimed a try. This ensured that Leinster’s lead had been reduced to ten points (15-5) by the mid-way stage, and Allan reduced the gap to an even greater degree with a 52nd-minute penalty.
Leinster contained Treviso for the remainder of the play, though, and a try by Tracy seven minutes from time meant that all 20 of the Blues’ points were accumulated by Kildare players.