2 weeks Ago By Irishexaminer.com
Joe McCarthy isn’t the new boy anymore. He’s 23 now and the addition of five ‘training panellists’ to Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for this month’s four internationals has moved the Leinster lock another few rungs up the seniority ladder. Four of those training this last few weeks in Abbotstown and Portugal are younger than him.
A dozen have earned less than his 12 caps. You wouldn’t say he is fully ‘established’ by any means but the element of surprise about him is long gone. That brings challenges of its own for a player.
Such was his impact in the opening Six Nations round away to France in Marseille earlier this year that he had the feel of a marked man for the remainder of the championship. You couldn’t not take note of him. The Mediterranean port would remain his high watermark for the competition.
“I suppose every player feels like you always have to keep evolving your game,” he explained before Friday’s encounter with the All Blacks in the Aviva Stadium. “There's a quote, 'What gets you here won't get you there'. “You're always trying to add simple things because the same things won't always work.
Teams will scout you, what you're doing in the lineout. Maybe if you're carrying well you'll have a few more double shots, you notice that. “You're always trying to add bits to your game, and little extra areas where you can add a difference.
You see another guy in the team, with loads of world-class players who are great in all different aspects of the game. Trying to learn off them, always evolving.” McCarthy has been focusing on his defensive game, getting shots in and trying to “derail” players with his technique, but there can’t be any one-track approach at the elite level where the expectation is that the best players must be multi-taskers.
The best tend to learn from the best and the Blackrock and Trinity grad is in the right place for that given his presence in Leinster and Ireland squads that have both been breeding grounds for excellence for a full generation now and more. Both environments have profited from the occasional import of talent from further afield: witness the importance to Ireland in recent years of players such as Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen. Leinster have supplemented their ranks this term with deals for French front row Rabah Slimani, All Black utility back Jordie Barrett and two-time World Cup-winning Springbok RG Snyman who has made the short move from Limerick to Dublin.
“Everyone knows his game, his offloading and everything like that. He's awesome and a very smart rugby player and adds a lot around a lineout. "He's not just a big brute, he's a very intelligent rugby player so he's had a lot of impact in lineout defence and attack groups.
“It's great to learn off him. The dark arts in South Africa, he's bringing it in and nuances like that. He's been great, and he's a bit of a game changer, and can make an opportunity from anything.
He's exciting to play with.” That rugby education will be fast-tracked over the course of the next four weekends, starting with this first-up appointment with a New Zealand side which had the better of McCarthy and Ireland in the World Cup quarter-final in Paris 13 months ago. The Kiwis aren’t renowned as the most physical of sides that Ireland would face – the Springboks, France and England would vie for those honours – but the challenge they pose is in some ways even more difficult to handle.
“I feel like mentally you have to be quite switched on,” said McCarthy who has also faced the New Zealand Maori. “They're dangerous at any aspect. If you leave a short side they'll whip back down there, or quick lineout throws.
“It's going to be a very physical game, no doubt, but you're almost mentally fatigued, because you're trying to switch on even when you're wrecked. That's one of the biggest differences. "You're always on, ready for anything like quick taps or quick throws.
They’ll see space and take it.” He couldn’t be more ready for it. A hamstring injury that kept him out of recent URC games has cleared up and the prospect of a Friday night lights affair this week has McCarthy buzzing, not just for the promised atmosphere but for the fact that he loves the long lead-in through the day.
His area of operations come kick-off – you would expect him to start – will be emblematic of the transitional phase the visitors are in as they continue to come to terms with the absence of the Brodie Retallick/Sam Whitelock combination in the second row. Head coach Scott Robertson has lost more key men besides since taking over post-World Cup with some retiring and others chasing the yen or euro on offer in other corners of the globe, but McCarthy can’t be thinking like that this week. “They still obviously have Scott Barrett, who is a very experienced player and they have some very good young players.
“Retallick and Whitelock had been stalwarts in their team for years, but I think there is a new breed of second-rows coming through, and I'm sure they are excited. "They are very dynamic, real good athletes, so it will be a big challenge.”.
