Considering the relatively small playing pool in this country, the IRFU’s current selection policy means that it is imperative that Ireland manage to keep the best Irish talents playing their rugby on home soil.
The IRFU and the four provinces have been largely successful at doing so over the last decade or so. There have been very few instances of first choice international players opting to move abroad in the midst of their prime.
Of course, that is not to say that all players have remained in Ireland for the best part of their careers.
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Bernard Jackman Suggests Intriguing Move For Former Ireland Star
Joey Carbery was once viewed as the next big thing in Irish rugby, looking like a potentially world class prospect as he made his way through the system at Leinster.
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Of course, his pathway to a starting position was blocked by Johnny Sexton at both provincial and test level, something that eventually saw him sign with Munster back in 2018.
His time in Limerick was plagued with injuries, meaning he could never quite nail down a consistent place with Ireland as a result. Carbery would eventually leave the province in 2024 to sign with French club Bordeaux Begles, with many assuming at the time that this would also end his international career.
However, at 29-years old, it is not out of the question that we see him return to Irish rugby at some point in the future.
Writing in the Irish Independent, Bernard Jackman proposed an intriguing move the IRFU should pursue in order to bolster both the provinces and the Ireland squad.
For the last 15 years there has been a push to spread our talent across the four provinces but that has met with resistance.
The resistance has mainly come from the players themselves and the one move that the IRFU managed to get through, Joey Carbery to Munster, didn’t work out the way everyone had hoped, with injuries denying any real chance of Carbery fulfilling his potential.
Carbery turns 30 on Saturday and I would love to see the IRFU try and bring him back to Ireland next season to play in Connacht as then we would have another quality player to add to the mix for Ireland – I think it could also help Stuart Lancaster build the team that he wants to.
Joey Carbery current deal in France runs out at the end of the season, meaning he could be available for a return to Irish rugby for the 2026/27 season.
Connacht would certainly seem like an ideal destination for the out-half, with the arrival of a player of his pedigree seeming an ideal building block to kickstart the Stuart Lancaster era in Galway.
It will be interesting to see if this would be a deal that the IRFU could seriously pursue over the coming months.
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