THE SIGHT OF Joey Carbery departing injured after just 35 minutes in Murrayfield on Saturday filled many Munster fans with worry.
While the 23-year-old’s creative streak was missed, it turned out that the man who replaced him at out-half brought vital composure to proceedings.
Tyler Bleyendaal, so plagued by injuries in recent seasons, had one of his best performances in Munster colours for some time as the province beat Edinburgh to secure a Champions Cup semi-final against Saracens.
Bleyendaal’s right-hand touchline conversion of Keith Earls’ winning try was crucial in giving Munster breathing room as it forced Edinburgh to chase a try, rather than a penalty or drop goal, in the closing minutes.
Having edged ahead of JJ Hanrahan for Munster’s sub out-half spot for this game, there were many other positive contributions from Bleyenaal including accurate passing, solid tackling and strong line-kicking, as well as a successful penalty shot at goal.
Bleyendaal rescued an overthrow at the Munster lineout to kickstart Earls’ try and then ran a vital decoy line just before the right wing was released by Chris Farrell for his score in the corner.
The 28-year-old out-half, who recently extended his contract with Munster until June 2021, can reflect on a thoroughly positive impact.
“He’s struggled a lot with injury over the last couple of seasons, so it is great to see him come into a big game and I thought he managed it really well,” said Munster centre Rory Scannell.
“The kicking game, that overthrown lineout led to the score and getting Earlsy in the corner.”
Munster will be hopeful that Carbery’s hamstring injury won’t keep him sidelined in the coming weeks, with the playmaker having only returned for the Edinburgh clash after seven weeks out of action.
But if Carbery does need more time to remedy the issue, Bleyendaal’s performance at Murrayfield provides reassurance.
“We had a long chat about his future a few weeks ago,” said Munster coach Johann van Graan of Bleyendaal. “We have four quality fly-halves at Munster [including Bill Johnston] and everybody is up for the fight in a positive way to make sure that we get the best out of them.
“Between JJ and Tyler it was a big call to make this week, obviously JJ was really disappointed and Tyler was happy, and he took the responsibility on himself and to come through is brilliant for the team.
“I can’t stress the team effort enough. Even Fineen [Wycherley] and JJ, who were here with the squad, everybody just wants to contribute in whatever way and I believe it shows in the big moments.”
Munster also lost Jack O’Donoghue during their quarter-final win, with the openside suffering a head injury, but his replacement – Arno Botha – also delivered a strong performance.
Even the late pre-game shuffle – with Mike Haley dropping out through illness, Andrew Conway shifting to 15 and Darren Sweetnam coming in on the wing – didn’t greatly affect Munster.
“Obviously, Joey and Jack are very disappointed that they had to come off the field,” said van Graan of the injured players. “Even Mikey stayed behind at the hotel, so I can’t even imagine how he’s feeling.
“I think it’s the beauty of our squad. I don’t know if you saw the moment when Joey walked off and Tyler came on. Everybody knows it was next man up and Tyler did brilliantly.”
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Team from the weekend. Feel free to disagree but give an alternative and reasons
Kilcoyne- carried hard and work rate through the roof. Mention for o sullivan.
Herring – unreal work off the bench. 23 tackles and played really well.
Moore- definitely putting his hand up for international selection.
Henderson – warrior. Say no more.
Ryan – massive game again
Ruddock – super leadership and huge work rate
Murphy – massive game. Gave it his all
Conan – proved to be the difference
Cooney – really sharp
Blyendaal – best IQ outhalf on show over the weekend. Iceman.
Stockdale – motm v Leinster for me
Mccloskey – busy game. Did lots of dirty work
Ringrose – best 13 on show despite his poor kicking
Earls- top class
Lowry- busy night and well able. Big future
@Jim Demps: you could have added Beirne, Fardy or Treadwell to the second row selection this weekend and not have been wrong. Some serious big games from those guys.
I did consider Connacht players for selection but none of them stood out over and beyond the other two games.
@Jim Demps: only change I would make would be O’Suillivan ahead of killcoyne, killcoyne had a good game but for a young 23 year old to put in 17 tackles, hit the amount of rucks he did, look very solid against arguably the best th in the world come scrum time and to last 71 minutes in as intense and physically draining a match such as that gives him the nod for me.
@Ian Verdon: yeah no bother with that. The lad is superb. I can see him and loughman battling it out for Irish jerseys in a few years time.
@Jim Demps: I also thought Conway went well given the circumstances and cave put in a monumental performance especially defensively. Treadwell has impressed me too a lot this season, he’s certainly bulked up and is becoming much more a force in the nitty gritty stuff. Ross Byrne for slotting that pen alone deserves a mention too.
@Jim Demps: cave was outstanding. Thought he outplayed ringrose.
@Jim Demps: If Moore keeps playing well I think he’ll force his way into the reckoning. Porter got minced in a scrum when he came on yesterday. Porter needs to up his game in the next few weeks as his work in the scrum is becoming a real concern
@Eddie Hekenui: it’s becoming a bit of a theme for him alright although he’s young enough to sort it out quickish. Needs to start putting a few good performances together in the scrum now.
@Jim Demps: Thought Cave was superb and considering his less than ideal preparation he shaded it for me, though I agree Ringrose was still his classy self.
@David O’Brien: …mebbe Ringrose weighed down a bit not having JS calling shots beside him. Mebbe a bit of keeping an eye on Byrne, but for sure he was not his authoratitive self.
@Jim Demps: …perfect comment on TB. Thought there were shades of ROG nursing his team round the pitch.
@Daragh O’Brien: yeah I thought it was a tough call between the two of them. I went with ringrose but it could have easily have been cave.
@Michael Murray: I wouldn’t have been in favour of re-signing him but I was clearly wrong. He’s an old head and the perfect guy to compliment the talent of carbery. Super guy to have coming off the bench and win a game for us.
Good selection Jim. Nobody bats an eye now when Lowry excels. Ross Byrne looked as if his self-confidence has gone up another notch – right from joshing around with Poite just before the kick-off. Fun to see players develop. Good to see Luke Marshall back too – a really interesting player to watch.
Wonderful selected team. Leinster needs to up themselves with only 3 players on this top team. The S/F of the HC Cup you should have more players picked on these teams so they need to get better ::Don’t know how they won. LUCK I guess :: Jack McG and now Porter, their F/R is falling apart. We cannot depend on LUCK lads so see this team and make a better effort to get on it .
PS
Send your CV to the poster at the top
@Martin Quinn: you’re an extremely strange individual. Jim has contributed more meaningful content in one post than you have in your collective history on this app. You’re bitterness and fascination towards him is extremely strange.
@Ian Verdon: he also generally fails to make even a shred of sense… All that comes through is his churlishness