The last time he faced Ulster, Joey Carbery had no idea it would be his final appearance in a Munster shirt, and now he is looking forward to his next encounter with the northern province, which will mark his return to Irish soil after signing for top French side Bordeaux Begles.
An injury-hit four-year spell with Munster came to a premature end when he broke his thumb soon after coming off the bench at Thomond Park in the last round of the United Rugby Championship regular season last month.
That ruled Carbery out of Munster’s play-off appearances, a win over the Ospreys and a defeat to Glasgow, both at the Limerick ground, to deny him a proper farewell before he heads to the south-west of France on a two-year deal.
While frustrating, the 29-24 victory was, he admits, an appropriate way to end his time with the province.
“It was a strange one because I didn’t think it was going to be my last game when it came around,” he said.
“On the day I actually broke my thumb when I came on in the first half, played through it and thought I went quite well. It was quite innocuous, it wasn’t that big. I thought it was sprained so I got it strapped.
“For my last game to be in Thomond was quite nice and it was a good win at the end of it. I’ve had a bad run with injuries down there and for it to end like that kind of summed it up. I’m hoping now that this little injury is the last for a while and I can push on forward.”
Carbery’s departure from Munster was confirmed in January with the switch to Bordeaux soon reported and officially announced by last season’s Top 14 beaten finalists at the start of July.
While another of Carbery’s former teams, Leinster, will visit the Stade Chaban-Delmas for a pre-season friendly at the end of August, Carbery and his new team-mates will head to the Kingspan Stadium in December for a Champions Cup Pool One tie. With a clash with Irish opposition likely, Carbery was paying close attention when the European draw was made.
“I was and a few of my friends as well like [Munster forward] Jack O’Donoghue were on to me straight away. There always seems to be a thing with Munster that when a player leaves they get a fixture against them the following year, so I thought this was going to happen, but then we ended up getting Ulster.
“It should be good, it’ll be my first game back on Irish soil for a while and I know a good few of the guys up there anyway. There was always likely to be an Irish team and it was cool to get Ulster.”
Carbery heads to France today to make a new home in a country currently enraptured by the Olympic Games in Paris, the first big showpiece of which was the French men’s gold medal victory in the rugby sevens on the opening Saturday.
“I was supposed to do it (play sevens) when I was younger but I never got the chance, I think it would be good fun,” said the 28-year-old.
“Obviously the rules are quite similar but it looks like quite a different game the way they approach it so it would take a while to get used to. It would definitely be something I’d be open to if the opportunity came around.
As for the likelihood of an appearance at Los Angeles 2028 similar to the one former Blackrock College and Leinster team-mate Hugo Keenan made in Paris after moving from 15s?
“That could be the big switch,” he said with a laugh.
“We’ll see how things go in France then we’ll make a decision...”
