THE DAY JOEY Carbery announced that he was leaving Leinster for Munster will stick in the memory for some time, especially for those who spoke to him that afternoon in May of last year at Carton House.
Dressed in Ireland training gear, it being a pre-Australia tour camp, the youngster came across as emotional and unsure about whether he had made the right decision.
Leaving his native Leinster, the province he had long dreamed of playing for, was an understandably difficult thing to do.
Carbery is now totally at home in Munster. Source: James Crombie/INPHO
To move to Leinster’s great inter-provincial rivals, Munster, was something Carbery had never imagined until the IRFU presented him with the possibility.
But fast forward a year and Carbery is perfectly at home with Munster, having settled into life in Limerick happily and shown his quality at out-half for Johann van Graan’s team.
While the initial sense in some quarters was that Carbery might return to Leinster some day, he has already extended his contract for another two years.
The 23-year-old is set to return from a long-term hamstring injury on Saturday as Munster take on Leinster at the RDS in the Guinness Pro14 semi-finals.
In this same fixture last year, Carbery was wearing Leinster’s 15 shirt. Now he’s very much Munster’s main man at 10.
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“I suppose it was so fresh and raw when I announced it that I was pretty unsure of what was going to happen,” says Athy man Carbery of his very first feelings around the transfer.
“But the way the lads have taken me in and looked after me, I’ve loved it from the word go down here.
“It’s definitely been as good as I could have expected it. I’m settled here. My parents live about an hour away, so it’s not bad at all for me. I don’t have to get on a plane to go home, I can always call home for an evening for dinner if mum’s cooking.”
Carbery says both he and Munster were both keen to get his contract extended at an early stage and his decision was “very easy.”
“From a personal side, for Munster to want me for another three years is pretty cool, especially after one year for them to have the courage in me to keep me on.
“I love it down here and I’m really excited. The potential for this team is endless really. We’re working hard to get a taste for silverware; I know how much it would spur us on to learn more and improve more.”
Carbery is set for his return from injury on Saturday. Source: James Crombie/INPHO
Carbery has been able to show his class over the course of 13 starts for Munster this season, shining away to Gloucester in the Heineken Champions Cup in particular and generally improving with each game.
There have been setbacks too, most notably a poor place-kicking performance away to Castres in Europe, but Carbery has clearly learned from each of them.
Indeed, he hasn’t missed a single place kick for Munster since that Castres fixture, with his run of successful shots at goal standing at 21.
Carbery hasn’t had much opportunity to extend that sequence in recent months, however, having played just 35 minutes for Munster since 19 January due to hamstring issues.