Live

Repeat: Off The Ball

02:00 AM-05:00 AM

Repeat: Off The Ball
Advertisement
Rugby

Should Joey Carbery leave Leinster to further his game time at out-half?

Eddie O'Sullivan and Ruaidhrí O'Connor joined Joe Molloy for Monday Night Rugby on Off the...



Should Joey Carbery leave Lein...
Rugby

Should Joey Carbery leave Leinster to further his game time at out-half?

Eddie O'Sullivan and Ruaidhrí O'Connor joined Joe Molloy for Monday Night Rugby on Off the Ball to review Ireland's narrow win over Fiji. 

Joe Schmidt made 13 changes to his starting line-up to face the Pacific Islanders and the gamble nearly back-fired. 

Despite racing into a 17-3 lead, the visitors were level at 20-20 going into the dying minutes of the match only for an Ian Keatley penalty to get the home side over the line.

It made it six wins in a row for Ireland who face Argentina in the final game of their Autumn series this weekend.

Joey Carbery took over the reigns at out-half and performed admirably while Johnny Sexton was rested. 

However, the youngster finds himself behind Sexton at both provincial and national level and former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan believes he should consider a move to further his ambitions of playing at out-half. 

"To be fair to the lad - if he's going to play international ten, he needs to play ten as much as possible," he told Joe Molloy.

"He may have to consider that possibility (leaving Leinster) for his career. Like, It'll be anarchy to say that now because he's so important to Leinster but he's playing full-back for Leinster - what happens when Rob Kearney comes back for Leinster and Jonathan Sexton is fit?

"What happens there? - does Rob Kearney lose out to Carbery even though Joe Schmidt might have him ahead of Carbery.

"There's a lot of conundrums there and I've no doubt that Joe Schmidt will have to sit down with Leo Cullen and say 'look, this is what I'm thinking - what are you thinking? and let's try and find a way here' because he does need to play ten.

"I thought he played extraordinarily well on Saturday at ten - given that he hasn't played at ten so long," he added.

The full discussion can be heard here:

Should Joey Carbery leave Leinster to further his game time at out-half?

00:00:00 / 00:00:00

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Rugby