New Zealand-born Carbery was long viewed as Johnny Sexton’s heir apparent, serving as the legendary out-half’s understudy at Leinster and Ireland.
He made his Ireland debut in the famous Chicago win over the All Blacks in November 2016 and, in 2018, was Sexton’s deputy during the Grand Slam campaign before helping Leinster secure a Pro14 and Champions Cup double.
The problem soon became clear, though. While Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster saw Carbery’s future at full-back, Ireland boss Joe Schmidt told the player he wouldn’t pick him if he wasn’t playing at fly-half.
With that, he left Leinster for rivals Munster in the summer of 2018 in a bid to boost his Test career.
“Ulster and Munster were on the table. It came down to whether I wanted to play for Ireland or not,” recalled Carbery.
“I was told that if I wasn’t playing 10 I wasn’t going to be picked because Stuart in Leinster played me at 15 more than 10 because he thought I was a better 15.
“Joe said ‘no, I want you as a 10, if you don’t play there I can’t pick you’. The 2019 World Cup was just on the horizon, I went to Munster in 2018 so that was coming up, that’s how it all came about.”