The Perfect Fit? How Carbery and Munster can be a Match made in Heaven

It is no secret that Leinster fans up and down the country are up in arms over the departure of their pragmatic understudy to Johnny Sexton. It has been said that he will not suit the style of play at Munster whatsoever and that his development over the next two years would be much better at the European champions.

However, this may not necessarily be true and there may be some bias in the sentiment from Leinster fans, which is completely understandable when your fiercest rivals snatch your most exciting prospect from under your nose. Here we will look at the reasons that Munster may not just be a good fit but may be the perfect fit for the Auckland native.

Game-time

It cannot be denied that playing week-in week-out is crucial for the development of young players. Without that it is virtually impossible for a young out-half to become astute and dependable to his side. Carbery started just 1 game at out-half for Leinster last season, with Ross Byrne starting a total of 16 and ending up as the Pro 14’s top scorer.

Sure, Carbery was injured for a significant portion of the season but prior to that there were no signs that Cullen and Lancaster saw him as their 2^nd choice 10. He had started more than a handful of games at fullback before his injury and had played brilliantly but if he and Joe Schmidt see a future for himself at stand-off he really needs to be playing in that position.

Big Game Pressure

Pressure can burst a pipe or make a diamond but it is most definitely necessary in order to make a world-class player. Adversity too may be a necessity in the development of international mavericks.

Could Ronan O’Gara have reached the heights that he did had it not been for that howler he had in his first European final? Could Johnny Sexton have slotted that drop-goal in Paris if he hadn’t missed that kick against the All Blacks in 2011? Carbery will be playing as the first choice out-half in the big European games for Munster at Thomond Park next year. Just ask Ian Keatley if there is any greater pressure than that.

Conor Murray

Playing with the worlds best scrum-half would be an asset to even the most experienced first-fives, let alone a player that is at a key stage of his development. Sexton has benefitted from it from a number of years with Ireland, with the two sharing the kicking duties taking the heat off the Leinster-man.

Ross Byrne may have been selected in the number 22 shirt for much of the year due to his superb kicking game out if hand. No one can doubt that those pinpoint accurate cross-field kicks exposed a number of defences throughout the season. Carbery’s kicking game may not be at the standard of his former teammates just yet, which makes Munster a perfect place to develop the skill.

His number 9 will continue to find touch and put opposition defences under pressure with those soaring box kicks, whilst Carbery will still be in a position to clear to touch when called upon. Munster too may benefit from this. How many times have we seen Keatley kick out on the full this year? This decrease in focus on his kicking game will also allow Carbery more freedom to take the ball to the line and threaten the opposition with his bamboozling footwork.

Style of Play

A lot of critics have said in the past few weeks that Munster’s style of play is more akin to the stone-age than Leinster’s modern game. Their view is that this move may not only not be beneficial to Carbery but also may be detrimental to his development. However, if we actually take a look at the way Munster have played recently we will see that this isn’t true.

Since Rob Penney came in in 2010 Munster’s game plan has been constantly evolving, to go along with the changing nature of the sport and the departure of O’Gara from the frame. Keatley and Hanrahan are much more running style out-halves than the type of guys that sit in the pocket and punch the ball in behind opposition wingers. We also saw Munster run the ball a lot more against Leinster in the Pro 14 semi-final. They took it to the masters of that style of play and only ended up losing by one point.

Surely that’s not the worst return for a side that are considered by many to still be a crash and bash team. We saw them frequently use beautiful screen plays, that have become synonymous with the game in the past couple of years, to attack the fringes of the eventual champions. However, on more than one occasion it was the fluidity of their passing that prevented them from scoring out wide. The addition of Carbery to the side would likely increase the pace of delivery, with the youngster spinning it wide and flat for Scannell and others to run onto.

As Joe Schmidt said it’s difficult to say whether this move will be a great success just yet but there is no doubt that it is a great opportunity for the former Leinster man. Hopefully in a year or two he will be seen as a more solid starting fly-half and will be not only be a pragmatic secondary option for Ireland but will be challenging Sexton for that starting jersey.