Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Joey Carbery.Billy Stickland/INPHO Bordeaux's Joey Carbery looks revitalised ahead of Munster reunion The out-half had a strong game in the Bordeaux 10 shirt against Ulster. 5.08pm, 9 Apr 2025 Share options IF JOEY CARBERY’S Bordeaux-Bègles career was slow to take off, the former Leinster and Munster out-half has shot sharply into focus over the last few weeks. After falling out of favour with Ireland and later admitting he wasn’t enjoying his rugby, Carbery made the big decision to swap Munster for Bordeaux last summer and his move got off a difficult start, with the 37-times capped Ireland international fracturing his hand on his Bordeaux debut. That mid-September injury kept him out until early November but he’s recovered to play an important part in Bordeaux’s season. To date the 29-year-old has played 16 times for the French side, starting nine games at out-half and two at fullback. For those who don’t regularly tune in to the Top 14, Bordeaux’s Champions Cup round of 16 defeat of Ulster on Sunday offered a chance to watch Carbery thriving in his new surroundings. Carbery played 46 minutes at 10 before leaving the action following a heavy blow, and was excellent in helping his team build a 31-14 lead against the province, nailing all of his four conversion attempts for good measure. The win set up a box-office reunion with Munster in this weekend’s quarter-finals, where Carbery will be keen to showcase his talents again. The expectation is that Carbery may drop back to the bench with French out-half Matthieu Jalibert returning to the starting team, but even if that is the case Munster will be wary of the threat their former player can pose coming in as a replacement. That a player of Carbery’s quality might not squeeze into Bordeaux’s XV underlines their strength across the backline. Carbery has no doubt benefitted from playing with talents like Jalibert, Damian Penaud, Yoram Moefana and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, and his skillset suits Bordeaux’s open, ambitious attacking style, ran by attack coach and former Leinster Academy manager Noel McNamara, who first worked with Carbery in his days coaching the Leinster schools teams. The most striking aspect of Carbery’s performance against Ulster was just how comfortable and commanding he looked steering his team. Last week Carbery told The Irish Times how much he was enjoying his rugby in France, highlighting how “It’s a lot more open. It’s a lot more down to your instinct, to playing what’s in front of you.” That was evident across his impactful start to the game, with Carbery always looking to make something happen and get that brilliant Bordeaux backline moving. After collecting this early mark, Carbery’s first instinct was to quickly set Bordeaux’s attack into motion. Later in the first half Carbery made a confident break forward and attempted to kick through after identifying space in the Ulster backfield. It was a smart idea but one he couldn’t execute. Advertisement And he pitched in defensively when needed with 10 tackles, including getting back to make this important stop on Jack Murphy. Of course, Carbery’s primary role is to be a playmaker and his handling, passing and vision against Ulster were all superb. In this early play, Carbery quickly hits a skip pass and helps Bordeaux get into a threatening position on the wing. This fired pass under pressure inside to hooker Maxime Lamothe helps push Bordeaux into the Ulster 22, and ends with Adam Coleman crossing for the home side’s third try. Carbery consistently made good decisions on the ball. Here he’s calm to step inside the shooting Ulster defender before releasing his pass, and in a flash Bordeaux are flying forward in numbers again. And perhaps his standout involvement was his key role in the passage that led to Romain Buros crossing on the stroke of half-time. After Buros collects an Ulster kick, Carbery shows excellent hands to pluck the ball off the deck before a roaming run, keeping the ball alive as he gets tackled. It triggers a series of wonderful offloads as Bordeaux strike with a lethal attacking move. It’s excellent play from Carbery, who displays good footwork as he beats a number of defenders before offloading inside. The tackle that ended his game came from a hard Stewart Moore hit early in the second half, but even as Carbery takes the shot to the midriff, he has the awareness to keep his hands free and pop a pass to scrum-half Maxime Lucu. Munster have acknowledged Carbery will be able to give his new teammates the full inside track on how the province operate this week, and he’ll surely have an important role behind the scenes ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final clash. And whether used from the start or off the bench, Carbery will be determined to back the Ulster performance up with another impactful outing against his former employers. Ciarán Kennedy Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Bordeaux's Joey Carbery looks revitalised ahead of Munster reunion”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Bordeaux's Joey Carbery looks revitalised ahead of Munster reunion”. 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