Joey Carbery was yesterday speaking to media as part of the Tackle Your Feelings initiative. He was in good spirits and spoke about his positive approach to last Saturday's loss against France. Both head coach Andy Farrell and injured captain Johnny Sexton, whom Carbery was replacing, had both told him to go out and play his own game. The advice evidently worked as we saw a strong showing from Carbery in his first ever Six Nations start.
He spoke about “figuring out” the best way to get the ball to the space, as something he was working on. He also touched on his signature sidestep, and although he was, in his own words, “eaten up” by the French a few times, it didn’t seem to faze him.
This confidence is extremely encouraging for Ireland going forward as the team seeks to nail down the role of Johnny Sexton’s back up, and even a challenger to his throne.
One of the stand out viewpoints from Joey Carbery was his praise for Ireland’s style of play and their attacking structure under Andy Farrell and Mike Catt, and how this makes playing his "own game" significantly easier.
I went out and tried to play the way I do, and obviously we have a pretty good system in place. It accounts for people coming in and out, and there’s so many different options.
I think there’s various options and like I said previously I think having the forwards and having guys around me who can play ball, and are able to pass on the line, it just makes everyone’s job so much easier so it’s really enjoyable. And it makes my job a lot easier so we probably shouldn’t get as much credit as we do.
Carbery was taken off with just over a minute left to play against France, which at the time seemed like a strange call to drop Jack Carty in cold at such a crucial stage. Carbery cleared it up, pointing out that he was cramping up badly in what was his first 78 minutes in a number of weeks.
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Tackle Your Feelings is a mental health initiative for rugby players, and Joey Carbery pointed to his “support network” of his friends and family as a big influence in nurturing his positive mental health.
Carbery also touched upon a few Munster topics. He feels that despite Munster and Ireland having different styles of play, it was not difficult to switch back to international rugby. Given his strong showing for Ireland on Saturday it may suggest that Munster's style does not suit him and is perhaps holding him back somewhat.
Currently Munster have two in form outhalves in Ben Healy and Jack Crowley, both of whom have been in better form and have played more rugby for their Munster this season. Despite this pressure, Carbery embraces the competition, and thinks of it as a positive for the players and the province.
Rugby Players Ireland are delighted to announce Ireland international and Munster rugby player, Joey Carbery, as the newest ambassador for Tackle Your Feelings, supported by Zurich and the Z Zurich Foundation. Joey, an official ambassador with Aware, comes on board today and releases a new video in which he discusses the long road to recovery after an ankle injury and how countless setbacks impacted his mental wellbeing. By speaking up, turning to his support network and taking control of his own mental wellbeing, Joey hopes to encourage others to take a proactive approach to looking after their mental health, whether it’s on or off the pitch.
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