No pressure, lad!
Joey Carbery made his first start for Munster after his summer move from Leinster as Allen Clarke brought his Ospreys side to Musgrave Park.
Of all the places to run out for Munster in that famous red No.10 jersey, Carbery picked one hell of a city.
Munster legend Ronan O’Gara wore that jersey for 14 seasons and is a favourite son of Cork. Carbery admitted he moved down the N7 to Munster to move ‘out of the shadow’ of Johnny Sexton.
By making that move, Carbery is now trying to live up to the legend of ROG.
Carbery came off the bench in Guinness PRO14 games against Cheetahs and Glasgow and performed well but, with Johann van Graan looking for a response to a disheartening loss at Scotstoun, the 22-year-old was handed his first start.
.@JoeyCarbery will make his first start for Munster against the Ospreys at Irish Independent Park tomorrow night (7.35pm).
See full team details and buy tickets > > https://t.co/fj2aHnzPCK#MUNvOSP #SUAF 🔴 pic.twitter.com/B9kFBU3XJX
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) September 13, 2018
Heading into the game, two days out from his first start being confirmed, Carbery told reporters:
“[Focusing on one position] makes my job a bit easier. I can focus then on the core skills that I need to work on rather than worrying about two or three other positions that I need to cover.
“Like I said, my favourite position is playing 10. When I’m playing 10, I feel like I am at my best, so that was the main reason.”
There was a decent crowd down at Musgrave Park and eir Sport had another Munster legend on hand to look ahead to Carbery’s first start with host Tommy Bowe and former Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan.
The Ireland outhalf got a great reception from the home fans and whoever was on the pre-match entertainment duties definitely had a sense of humour.
As fans took their seats, a tribute video to Ronan O’Gara was played to mark his entry, earlier in the week, to World Rugby’s Hall of Fame.
Ronan O'Gara, Stephen Larkham, Liza Burgess, Bryan WIlliams and Pierre Villepreux. These five player's were truly great. take a look at some of their best moments #WorldRugbyHOF pic.twitter.com/hmiFhlIv0S
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) September 12, 2018
There you go young Carbery. Match that. On you go!
