IRFU put pressure on Leinster to move Joey Carbery or Ross Byrne to Ulster

The IRFU reportedly want Leinster to choose between utility back Joey Carbery and fly-half Ross Byrne next season as Ulster look for a new out-half in the wake of Paddy Jackson's recent departure from the club.

Jackson's contract was revoked earlier this month following a joint internal review by Ulster and the IRFU with the province now looking for a replacement fly-half to accompany incumbent playmaker Jonny McPhilips. According to Peter O'Reilly from The Sunday Times, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt and IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora both visited Leinster's training centre last Sunday to inform the club's head coach Leo Cullen that he would need to make a prompt decision between retaining Carbery or Byrne. Carbery has split his time this season between full-back and fly-half while Byrne served as the club's primary backup to first-choice fly-half Johnny Sexton at one point in the season. Given that Sexton and Carbery would both likely miss time for the province during the November internationals, 2019 Six Nations and 2019 Rugby World Cup, the loss of Byrne would be significant but could be advantageous for Cathal Marsh who would be in line to see increased game time should Carbery or Byrne leave the province. Speculation linking Carbery with a move away from Leinster has been a consistent theme throughout the second-half of the season but the 22-year-old has repeatedly moved to distance himself from any move that would bring him away from Leinster. "I haven't considered it," Carbery told  The Hard Yards podcast earlier this year.

"If someone from Leinster came up and said it to me, then maybe I would consider it. But the chat has only come from the media so I'm not paying too much attention to it, to be honest."