Joey Carbery entered the game at Soldier Field on Saturday with 21 minutes remaining, replacing the injured Johnny Sexton.
It was his first cap for Ireland and just the 10th senior appearance of his career, and he was facing New Zealand, the world’s best rugby team, and the country of his birth.
Yet, Carbery didn’t look out of place and helped Ireland to a historic 40-29 victory over the world champions in Chicago. As Rob Kearney told the Leinster fly-half following the game, Carbery showed “balls of steel.”
Before facing the All Blacks in his first game for Ireland, Carbery had to perform an initiation song in front of his new teammates, as is the custom for new squad members.
The custom can be daunting and is particularly prevalent with the Irish football team. Seamus Coleman sang rapped the theme tune to the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” while Robbie Henshaw sang “Galway girl” in front of the Irish rugby team.
When asked following the game what song he opted for, Carbery said he opted for, like Coleman, the theme tune to a famous TV show from the 90s.
“Yeah, (I sang) the Friends song.”
The American sitcom is a year older than 21-year-old Carbery, who also revealed he got All Blacks fly-half Aaron Cruden’s jersey following the game.
However, he kept hold of his own jersey, reflecting his dual-nationality and links with both countries. The Leinster player was born in Auckland and moved with his family to Athy in Co. Kildare when he was 11.
“It was always mixed between the two, I had the jerseys of both,” Carbery said, when asked which was his team growing up, Ireland or New Zealand.
“I would have grown up with Mils Muliaina and Dan Carter being there, but also (Ronan) O’Gara and (Brian) O’Driscoll as well. It’s a dream come true, really, to play against them, and to win, to win for the first time ever, I can’t believe it.”
Carbery, while understandably ecstatic with being part of the historic victory, backed up Kearney’s theory about the player. Despite entering the match at a crucial point, with the game in balance, the 21-year-old took it all in his stride and focused on just keeping it simple.
“Yeah, it was a bit crazy but I didn’t really think about that, I went back to basics and did what I normally do,” Carbery said.
“I’m even more happy to have been trusted with the opportunity, so I went out and tried to do the simple things well and then we were lucky that the score took care of itself.
“I’m very lucky to be able to get the chance, so it’s all their (the Irish team’s) hard work previous to this that made it come true.”
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