THE STANDOUT PERFORMANCE of an up-and-coming fly-half from Athy for Munster against the Sharks was touched on for discussion during today’s Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
Whether the player-of-the-match showing on Saturday heralds a return to form for Joey Carbery or not, his display did hint at a mindset which could serve him well in the post Johnny Sexton era of Irish rugby.
Carbery was No 2 to Sexton until the start of this year before being overtaken by Ross Byrne and subsequently Jack Crowley for province and country. Yet a fully fit Carbery, with something to prove, could stake a compelling claim to the red and, indeed, green No 10 shirt.
“This guy Joey Carbery looks like a decent prospect, doesn’t he?” said Murray Kinsella, rugby journalist with The 42. “A nice bit of bite to his performance. Definitely some classy passing skills. It was really good to see, and I did think there was a bit of bite to him which I thought was the bit that was missing to him maybe last season or even beyond that.
“And he was so aggressive in his intent, and there was some really nice examples of his vision as well.”
Kinsella added of the province’s 34-21 win: “A really pleasing performance from Munster to start the season. Obviously lots in it but it was quite disciplined, I think they only conceded five penalties which is rare in a game of rugby. They made eight line breaks.
“Some of the invention and off-the-ball workrate that was prominent last year was really prominent again. You could see how quick they wanted to play. How often did they say to the referee, ‘They need to roll out quicker, we just want to play at speed’? They’re keen to hammer home that view of themselves, but also that outside view of them – that they’re a team who play at speed.”
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Prendergast has to get game time, Crowley and Prendergast are the future, Ross Byrne never laid down a marker for leinster the way Crowley did for Munster and at his age is probably to old for next world cup. That’s the harsh reality of professional sports
@Patrick Walsh: let Prendergast get game time playing at 10 for Leinster consistently before throwing him into the Ireland set up. Time is on his side.
@Patrick Walsh: Agree, Crowley will be our 10 at the next WC with Pren probably being the back up (H Byrne and Frawley will challenge too).
@Patrick Walsh: Crowley is number 10 in my mind
@Andrew Slazenger: please stop with frawley again, it was crazy what went on last year, he wasn’t playing 10 for Leinster yet was lining out midweek in newzeland
@Andrew Slazenger: I wonder how the next 4 years will go for the current leinster first choice no.10?
@Matthew Delaney: agree frawley is so over hyped
@Patrick Walsh: Short memories, Sexton was dismissed by many throughout his career, with the idiotic line that he was blocking players getting a chance,.
@Rugbyanbeer: he only truly started to flourish once contepomi left.
@Matthew Delaney: we can all agree that Crowley is the next in line for ireland but he has played even less than frawley and andy farrell likes frawley. Equally he played very well in the midweek games in New Zealand.
Joey passing was never the issue. His long passing was arguably as good if not better than Sextons. His issue was his game management and tackling. Unless he has improved in those areas it’s hard to see him get ahead of Crowley and Byrne. Prendergast might even pass him out in the next 12 months if he gets minutes with Leinster.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: And performing on the big occasion
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: prendergast has a lot to learn still especailly his defence
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: he’s also injury prone but at 27 he still has potentially 2 world cups in him so I wouldn’t right him off just yet.
Rugby’s a weird game, players can find form at any stage but Joey has it all to do if he’s to convince everyone he’s a WC 10. Certainly, there are a few that show enough potential to make you believe they could and they’re a few years younger. I hope he kicks on, still think he could do great things at fb, certainly with Healy and Flannery out of the way there’s plenty of opportunity at Munster, for a season or two anyway. Hit the line well for the Kendelan break, be great to see more of that confidence and ability.
Why no mention of his age ? Every Sexton article mentioned Sextons age at least 3 times !
Joey was good Frisch was my motm.
Age shouldn’t be a barrier for Prendergast, it’s the younger players who have to drive the standards if he’s good enough don’t hold him back, it’s not that Ireland have a surplus of 10s
@Patrick Walsh: needs to work a lot on his defence
@Patrick Walsh: you have no evidence yet that Prendergast is any good. Let the guy develop and actually play before you hype him up.
@0UWMNglt: that’s not how it works:)
@0UWMNglt: Could say the same for a lot of young players really. Written off before they’ve started. So many articles of analysis and opinion are soaked up by ‘experts’ everywhere, to the point that one missed pass means the player gets slated.
Let’s firstly deal with certainties lads .. A) there WILL be a new starting 10 at the Vélodrome in February. B) there are 3 months of competitive rugby for the heirs apparent to stake their claim. C) the contenders play for just 2 clubs. D) there are more than 2 in the race. E) 2 are on ‘compassionate’ leave for a number of weeks. Now the variables .. 1) Club selection/ rotation. 2) Injuries. 3) Form. Based on all that, I’d say it’s game on, with none of them yet having enough ‘in the bank’ to compensate for a poor run to the year end.
Forget about it.
It will be an interesting year at Munster, a fully on form Carberry is a better 10 than Crowley currently. Munster could easily evolve to Carberry at 10 and Crowley at 12 to give them two playmakers.
As for Ireland our next WC starting outhalf will come from one of Crowley, Prendergast, Carberry, Ross and Harry Byrne (no offense to Jack Carty who should be in the mix but is not an AF favorite). We need to make sure these guys all get provincial game time both in URC and ERC – could see one of the Byrnes going to Ulster and maybe even Frawley making the move West.
i would also love to see how we get Ben Healy back, might be a pipedream but he would have a real shot at being in the next Irish WC squad if eligible
@Owen ODonoghue: carbury was dropped completely from the irish training camps, he also didn’t even make the munster 23 for the end of the season run in. He only started at the weekend because Healy has left and crowley is still away. Of those 2 were still avaliable he would have had a day off to go Christmas shopping. He is not a better 10 than crowley. You might have a point that they could play together but I’d imagine that would be with carbury at 15
Carberry has 5 wins v All Blacks !!!