RUGBY: JOEY CARBERY INTERVIEW AFTER WASPS GAME
Carbery at home on European stage
By Daire Walsh
An already memorable season for Joey Carbery took another massive step in the right direction at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, when the Athy youngster was named man of the match in Leinster’s 32-17 European Rugby Champions Cup victory over Wasps.
Playing at full-back in the absence of the injured Rob Kearney, the 21-year-old Carbery produced a masterful display for Leo Cullen’s charges – setting up first-half tries for Isa Nacewa and Jack Conan, as Leinster booked their place in the last-four in deserved fashion.
He was also joined on the field of play by the Kildare trio of Adam Byrne, James Tracy and Fergus McFadden – who replaced the injured Byrne after 22 minutes.
The majority of Carbery’s 17 appearances for the Blues have come in the out-half position, but with different factors leading to his re-deployment in the back-three for this tie, he is happy to go with the flow.
“At the moment, I’m just kind of playing there with injuries and stuff. I love just being on the pitch, so I’m happy wherever,” Carbery remarked.
“It makes my job a lot easier when the team performs really well so, as a whole, I thought we played really well and dealt with their threats. I’m delighted with how it went.’
A key advantage in having both Carbery and Jonathan Sexton on the same field together is that the explosive Carbery is able to act as first receiver for Leinster’s attacks.
While Carbery isn’t deliberately stepping in front of Sexton, he is more than willing to occupy this space, and feels the attendance of 50,266 received good value for money on the day.
“I don’t try and get in front of him or anything, but if he’s in a ruck or something, if someone needs to be stood in, I’ll just jump in there. It’s good being able to tell the forwards where to go as well.
“I think our results put smiles on people’s faces. If we keep training as we do, and keep playing our game, I think we’re a very exciting team and there’s a lot to come from us.”
When Sexton added a 49th-minute penalty, Leinster increased their lead to 25-3. They appeared to be in cruise control at this point, before back-to-back converted tries by Christian Wade and former Blues star Jimmy Gopperth significantly reduced the Wasps deficit.
Although this intensified the game as a spectacle, Carbery acknowledged that they expected the Aviva Premiership outfit to have a purple patch, and emphasised the need to move on from any mistakes that were made over the course of the action.
“We knew there would be a purple patch, so we knew what we had to do. Stick to our defence and stuff. We trained with that intensity, and we knew that if stuff didn’t go well, we could adapt and move to next-ball focus.”
Since securing the Ulster Bank League title in the same venue with Clontarf last May, Carbery’s rugby career has continued to blossom. Saturday’s man of the match display is the latest feather in his cap, and he is now looking forward to the excitement of a Champions Cup semi-final meeting with Clermont Auvergne in Lyon.
“It’s great to get [man of the match]. Today we move on to the semis.
“We have to move on to the next stage. We can’t dwell on what has happened. It’s really exciting playing in a semi-final of a European Cup.
“We’ve just got to keep building in training, and look forward to what’s ahead,” Carbery added.