Joey Carbery marked a triumphant return to Irish soil on Saturday by steering Bordeaux to an emphatic 40-19 win at Ravenhill.
It was Carbery’s first European start for the French upstarts and he kicked two conversions as Bordeaux shook off a slow start to score 26 unanswered second half points and romp home.
It must have been especially sweet for the Athy man, considering his terrible injury luck while playing with Munster.
His first season with Bordeaux has also been disrupted by injury, as he was hurt in his first game in France and missed several weeks.
On the evidence of the past two weeks, Bordeaux look like one of the top three sides in Europe and it was clear today that Carbery will have an important role to play in their success both in the Top 14 and Europe.
Joey Carbery silences Ulster crowd
One incident in the second half made it clear how much the game meant to him. After Bordeaux had scored their third try to level the match, Carbery had a conversion not far from the near touch line.
He took his time over it, as he is allowed to do, though there were a few hoots and hollers from the stands.
As the officials raised the flag to signal it good, Carbery put his hand to his ear and gestured in the direction of the Ravenhill faithful before the flag had even gone up. He then glared at the crowd after he picked up his kicking tee.
Match très spécial pour le n°10 irlandais de l'UBB Joey Carbery, chahuté par le public et chambreur lorsqu'il donne l'avantage à l'UBB juste après l'heure de jeu 😊
Ça doit être un succès avec une saveur particulière pour lui et Noël McNamara !#ULSvUBB #ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/6kqECbc59y— catourneovale (@catourneovale) December 14, 2024
I mean that's big talk for someone who's held together with thoughts prayers and tape pic.twitter.com/rV04Bjlng1
— Eanna (@Eanna_jpg) December 14, 2024
Carbery clearly relished silencing the Belfast crowd.
Bordeaux currently sit atop Pool 1 with two wins for two.
For Richie Murphy and Ulster, it was another tough day at the office against elite French opposition. He told reporters afterwards:
They are rolling off some big bodies and then the power game kicked in, couple of turn overs, one of their tries was a no release penalty to us. But they run the length of the pitch and score.. it's a difficult one to deal with and those ones kind of break the game open.
They’ll play Munster next Friday in a game both sides will be desperate to win.
