Joe Schmidt says he thought Joey Carbery might have stayed at Leinster

The reinvention of Joey Carbery gathered pace at the team base at Carton House on Thursday.

"I honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do, I thought quite possibly he was going to stay," said Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, seemingly distancing himself from Carbery's final decision and denying suggestions of influence or pressure on the 21-year-old to move.

The Leinster fullback and potential outhalf's move to Munster next season is hardly a shock. It is more the inevitable end of a process that had become a protracted saga – one in which the Ireland coach, courtesy of a conversation with Leo Cullen prior to Leinster's European Champions Cup semi-final, was pivotal.

It was at that point that Schmidt and IRFU performance director David Nucifora came wondering if any of the Leinster pivots fancied a move to Ulster. They dived for cover.

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“All we asked was if there was any interest for Ross [Byrne] or Joey to go up to Ulster,” said Schmidt.

“Ulster at the time were looking for a foreign option. They needed to know before midday the following day and so we had to see if there was any chance if any of our local number 10s were interested.”

It was then Munster weighed in. Mourning Leinster, spinning heavily against Carbery leaving, are now cast as the wounded party.

But if demeanour and the hurt language of “it’s still quite raw” coming from the player himself counts for anything, Carbery remains Munster-bound, but Leinster by the grace of god.

Schmidt says he has not had the conversation, not discussed the player playing outhalf in Munster. Yet has made it abundantly clear this is the position where Carbery needs to play. This is where he wants him to be.

“I know people think there is a lot of influence with the provinces,” explained the Irish coach. “But there are very few conversations around trying to dictate where a player plays.

“They are not ones I have had very often with coaches. Sometimes you might say ‘look if you get a chance you might give him a run at 12 or a run at 15 or a run at 10 for Joey’.

“The provinces, we try to keep them as autonomous as possible without losing sight of the national interest. That’s my job. For the provincial coach it’s their job to make the most of their provincial group with an eye on the future for their individual players.”

National interest

The success of the project, he explained, is in how Carbery copes with the competition and how he adjusts to playing at outhalf after a season in which Leinster’s reluctance to play him there was pointed and against the stated national interest.

It would be difficult to disagree with the coach’s view that to be a good outhalf and useful to the Irish team you need to be playing in the position at club level.

“In anyone’s pathway in development I think if you are not playing the position it is very hard to progress in that position,” said Schmidt. “I’ve no doubt that with that base [in Leinster] he can springboard into a more senior position.

“As a number 10, if you are not running the team during the week it’s hard to just jump in the saddle and take the reins. I think you’ve got to be leading. You have got to get a rhythm through the week and players have to be responding to you during the week so that at the weekend you can run the game.”

If it will be successful, the Irish coach doesn’t yet know.

“The proof,” he says “is in the pudding.”

He does believe it will provide the opportunity for Carbery to play the position before the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

“I think it is a good opportunity for him to get in at 10,” he said. “But he is going to get competition from Tyler [Bleyendaal], Ian [Keatley], JJ [Hanrahan].

"Bill Johnson is a good young player so there is going to be competition for him. It may turn out to be a good move if he can make the most of it.

“With any young player, with any player full stop once you have made a decision it’s a good move because that’s what you’ve got to make it. It really is up to Joey now.”

But will Munster toss Carbery into fullback like Leinster did?

“I have no idea. I have no idea,” said Schmidt.

Have you had that conversation with the player?

“No. Really,” he added.

In almost every dialogue with Leinster for the last few months they have emphasised how satisfied Carbery has been and that he wanted to stay in Dublin. The Pauline conversion has been dramatic.

“Yeah. Believe it or not I haven’t really had that many conversations with Joey. I haven’t spoken to him since he phoned me and wanted to meet,” said Schmidt.

“Since then really my job is to coach the national team and try to make sure there is a depth chart in each position that is substantial enough so that we are going to survive injuries when they occur. That was why I was initially taking to Joey. To see if there was any interest.”

The suggestion is that any interest from Carbery needs to be won over by Munster. Easy. That’s their strength. And Schmidt got his answer too.