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26th May 2018
11:43am BST
More games next season will provide a better indication if McPhillips will ever get to that international bridge one day, and if he does it'll be a win for Irish Rugby, but if he doesn't and he follows a similar path to Jack Carty at Connacht then the dismissal of Jantjies could be a massive regret for the IRFU.
Byrne's selection on this summer's Ireland tour of Australia shows that head coach Joe Schmidt is willing to give him a legitimate shot at overtaking Carbery in the fly-half pecking order.
Maybe he doesn't get that chance. Maybe he will simply be the third choice fly-half and Carbery will back up Johnny Sexton in all three tests.
But maybe Schmidt gives him a run and maybe that puts more pressure on Carbery to move if there's a chance - or at least if he thinks there's a chance - that he could get squeezed out of the national picture with Ireland.
It's unlikely given the faith that Schmidt showed in Carbery in the Six Nations despite his clear lack of gametime at fly-half for Leinster.
Schmidt clearly rates Carbery but he also wants him to receive more gametime ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup to avoid a repeat of the Ian Madigan situation at the 2015 Rugby World Cup where the former Leinster utility was thrust into a World Cup quarter-final after spending an entire season bouncing around multiple positions at Leinster.
No one wants that.
Joey Carbery is Ireland's long-term option at fly-half but if he experiences another season like this campaign with Leinster, where he started just one game all season at fly-half compared to Byrne who started 19 games at fly-half for the province, that could outlook could change, at least for next year's World Cup.
If that ratio balloons to 38 games for Byrne at fly-half next season compared to a handful over two seasons for Carbery; Schmidt will really need a lot of faith to stick with the latter.
Carbery is in an unenviable position. He's content to sit and learn behind Johnny Sexton at Leinster but his national team coach and his high performance director want to see him move elsewhere to get more gametime at a position they see his long term future in.
If he moves to Ulster or Munster next season, on a long or short term deal, he'll be given the flexibility and reign to run his own team but he'll also be acutely aware that it took Sexton until the age of 24 to replace Felipe Contepomi at Leinster and that the attritional nature of modern rugby can be unkind to international fly-halves.
Carbery experienced the harshness of international rugby last year when he broke his arm against Fiji and one only needs to look at the last nine years of Sexton's career to see just how brutal the physical toll can be on a player in his position.
What I'm trying to say is I can see why Carbery is taking his time. He's a long career ahead of him and there'll be many more hits to come.
Blocking the Elton Jantjies move to Ulster gives more credence to the idea that Carbery could be headed to Belfast, even though he's dismissed links to the northern province for months now.
He's been reluctant to move up the M1 all year and Ulster have indicated that they're only really interested in having him if he shows a genuine interest in playing there.
Maybe recent events and the confirmation of Champions Cup rugby next season forces him to reconsider joining Ulster.
The IRFU better hope so because they've turned down a magnificent bird in Jantjies for a shot at two young birds in Belfield, both of which have been reluctant to spread their wings.Explore more on these topics:
