CONNACHT OUT-HALF JACK Carty will miss Ireland’s summer tour of New Zealand after undergoing surgery on his right wrist.
The 29-year-old posted an image of himself in a hospital bed, with the affected wrist in a protective cast, explaining to followers that his season “ends here.”
Jokingly lamenting the reality that he’ll “have to do lower limb weights all summer”, Carty described the setback as “a great opportunity to come back bigger and better next season”, punctuating his glass-half-full post with the hashtag ‘#NewWristWhoThis’.
The Athlone native will miss a significant opportunity over the summer to impress in green, with Andy Farrell’s tourists twice playing the Maori All Blacks in midweek games sandwiched between the three Tests against New Zealand.
Carty was given only seconds off the bench against France in Paris in this year’s Six Nations, his first appearance for Ireland since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
While his inclusion in Farrell’s squad for New Zealand was hardly guaranteed, his absence may open the door for Billy Burns or one of Leinster’s Byrne brothers, all of whom will hope to impress over the remainder of the United Rugby Championship.
Leinster inside centre Ciarán Frawley could also conceivably cover out-half if required, while Munster’s Ben Healy may have an outside shot of completing Ireland’s out-half complement behind Johnny Sexton and Joey Carbery, albeit his and Munster’s season was ended by Ulster on Friday.
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He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)