Bordeaux Bègles appear to be leading a number of suitors in the Top14 who are looking to sign Joey Carbery. The richly talented 28-year-old Munster outhalf is out of contract next summer. Although he fell out of favour with both his province and Ireland last season, as a goal-kicking outhalf with the versatility to play at 12 or 15, he would have a high premium in the Top14 and elsewhere.
The interest in Carbery at Bordeaux Bègles is perhaps accentuated by the presence of Noel McNamara as the attack coach at the Top14 club. Former Toulouse and French hooker Yannick Bru spent last season as breakdown coach at the Sharks but was then offered the head coach job at Bordeaux, and persuaded McNamara, a former Irish Under-20 coach and Leinster academy manager, to join him on the West coast of France.
It’s likely that Bru and the club would have earmarked a number of players to sign for next season, and The Irish Times has learned that their interest in Carbery is genuine. The player is currently sidelined by a wrist ligament injury, although he is expected to return by the time of the Six Nations.
This has dented his ambitions of earning a recall to the Irish squad in the post-Johnny Sexton era and at a time when Ross Byrne has also been sidelined by a torn bicep, thus leaving the door ajar for a number of younger alternatives, notably Jack Crowley, Harry Byrne and Ciarán Frawley.
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Carbery, who made his Irish debut in the historic win over the All Blacks in Chicago back in November 2016 during the week of his 21st birthday, won the most recent of his 37 caps in the unimpressive win over Fiji in November last year.
Carbery’s omission from the Six Nations and Grand Slam-winning campaign was compounded by him also dropping down the pecking order at Munster, whom he joined in 2018, in last season’s five-game URC-winning title charge, when Crowley and the departing Ben Healy were frequently chosen ahead of him.
Prior to the opening two games of this season against the Sharks and Benetton, Carbery last started a game for Munster in the defeat at home by Glasgow last April. After playing as a replacement in the ensuing Champions Cup loss to the Sharks, he didn’t feature again.
Bordeaux Bègles have evidently identified a need for a player of Carbery’s profile, namely one who could be a goal-kicking understudy/alternative to French international Mathieu Jalibert with the ability to cover other positions, particularly fullback.
The big question facing Carbery would be whether he is of a mind to leave Munster and be prepared to give up his ambitions of playing for Ireland, at least for two years or so anyway.
At 28, and recently married, the prospect of a change to a life in a different country and culture might appeal to Carbery, while still being young enough to potentially return home during the new World Cup cycle.
The prospect of working with the French club, and players of the calibre of Jalibert, Damian Penaud, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, might also be attractive.
With their 33,500 capacity at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux are the best supported team in French club rugby. They have reached the semi-finals of the French Championship in each of the last two seasons, and with the appointment of Bru, have a heightened interest in the Champions Cup.
Buoyed by the signing of the brilliant Penaud behind a powerful pack and particularly strong scrum, Bordeaux are flying high in this season’s Champions Cup with bonus-point wins over Connacht and Bristol.
This is not a done deal to sign Carbery but their interest is real and the move might well appeal to him. But having released JJ Hanrahan and Healy in recent seasons due to a previous logjam at outhalf, Munster would also be loathe to lose him and Andy Farrell’s perception of Carbery might also have a bearing on a big career decision for the player.
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