Having Joey Carbery sit on the bench is like having a Ferrari that sits in the garage that only ever comes out onto the road to stop the battery from dying.
But then why have a Ferrari if it’s just going to sit there in the garage gathering dust? In case anything happens to the Porsche, of course.
Naturally, they’re problems that a rich person has to live with, but Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt is a man that has an embarrassment of riches at present.
The problem for Schmidt is that Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has a completely different idea of how to use his most prized bench asset.
Schmidt views Carbery as the second best fly-half in the country that is currently not involved in a court case, while Cullen has Carbery penned in behind Johnny Sexton, Ross Byrne, and potentially Ciaran Frawley at fly-half, although it’s still too soon to tell how he really he views the latter in relation to Carbery.
The issue is not that one coach views one player as second-choice in a position, while another coach views that same player as the third-choice in that same position.
The problem is that one coach views a third-choice club player as his second-choice at international level, which, naturally begs the question, if Carbery is not going to play at fly-half for Leinster, how can he be expected to perform there for Ireland?
The answer is complicated but is based on a ‘less is more’ theory; whereby the less Carbery plays, the better he is for Schmidt, as in, he can minimise the opportunities of making a mistake while maximising his opportunities to learn. That’s the working theory at least.
Through this year’s Six Nations, Carbery received 30 minutes against an Italian side that were dead and buried. Six minutes against a Welsh side that looked dead and buried. And no time against a French side that people thought were dead and buried but brought Ireland to within a few feet of the crossbar to defeat.
Schmidt, like everyone else, can see the talent that is so evident in Carbery’s game, and with all due respect to Ian Keatley, who has been fantastic for Munster this season, he turns 31 next month. Carbery turned 22 in November.
Carbery looks like Ireland’s fly-half of the future in a world where Johnny Sexton is no longer able to pull on a green jersey, but until that times comes, he will be the deputy to a player who will just about have to be physically dragged off the field by a doctor before he retreats to the bench.
Carbery wants to play, seemingly anywhere, but the question is where do you play him?
The Leinster utility revealed this week that he has been training, at times, at inside centre in Ireland camp but it’s hard to see Schmidt picking him over Garry Ringrose or Rory Scannell in the centres, while at full-back, the New Zealander would jump off the Titanic quicker than he would abandon Rob Kearney.
Similarly, at Leinster, if Sexton and Byrne are Cullen’s top two choices at fly-half, is there room for him at inside centre of full-back at the club? Even with Robbie Henshaw injured?
Cullen has shown a greater propensity to part ways with Kearney than Schmidt has, not that that’s any high bar to begin with, but with Kearney and Jordan Larmour both competing for positions at full-back, and Larmour, Fergus McFadden and James Lowe, among others, all pushing each other for a spot on the wing, inside centre is the only logical spot left for Isa Nacewa.
Nacewa has been exceptional for Leinster this season, and with Henshaw ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations with a shoulder injury, it’s likely that the Fijian international spends the rest of the season there, unless Henshaw returns to the side or Cullen trials Carbery at 12 and Nacewa on the wing.
Of course, that means that there would then only be two positions left between Kearney, Larmour, McFadden and Lowe.
Irish Rugby has a funny way of creating opportunities for others just as you think a head-to-head battle will emerge. Jamie Heaslip and CJ Stander never really had to go head-to-head with each other as Peter O’Mahony missed the entire 2016 Six Nations with a cruciate ligament tear before entering the 2017 campaign with a hamstring injury.
Tadhg Furlong seized his opportunity in 2016 following the retirement of Mike Ross. Jacob Stockdale may have seized his opportunity in the November internationals after Keith Earls spent the month on the sidelines.
Injury and absence creates opportunity, but even for a player of the immense talent of Carbery, it doesn’t necessarily increase his chances of playing.
Robbie Henshaw and Chris Farrell go down and Garry Ringrose will likely step in for Ireland, while Nacewa can slot in there for Leinster.
If Kearney goes down, Larmour has started over him already this season at Leinster, while he could do the same for Ireland if he is preferred to Andrew Conway, or heaven forbid, Simon Zebo.
Ireland and Leinster have a wealth of options in their backline but none of the different combinations seem to be particularly advantageous to one of their most talented prospects. A player gathering dust that you can’t just bring back to the garage.
You have to play Carbery. Somewhere. Anywhere. But he needs to develop and you develop through playing more than you do by watching.
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