Johann Van Graan Appears To Throws Shade At IRFU Over Joey Carbery Situation

My watch.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan appeared to throw some shade at the IRFU this week over their handling of Joey Carbery.

The outhalf picked up a troublesome ankle injury at the backend of last season but still travelled to Japan for the Rugby World Cup with Ireland despite concerns over his fitness after he aggravated the problem in a warm-up game against Italy.

Van Graan says Carbery will now be out for “some time” in what is a huge blow for Munster and their ambitions this season.

“Joey is going to be out for some time,” van Graan said this week.

“We got to make sure he gets his strength back and we get that ankle fully functional. When he is back we will try and get him on the field when he is ready.”

“I honestly can’t say because I don’t know [when he will return],”

“Because of the type of injury he is definitely not going to be back in the next few weeks I can tell you that.

Luckily though, Carbery won’t have to get surgery and van Graan is happy that the 24-year-old is now under his “watch” now and not Ireland’s as the southern province look to get him back to full fitness.

“No, they are not going that route. Because he has had it for quite a while the most important thing now is Joey’s health. He is a Munster player. He is under my watch now so we get to look after him. Get his ankle right. Make sure he is good.”

In terms of Carbery travelling to the World Cup – van Graan hinted that it’s not something he approved of.

“Joey is one of our star players. The 25 out of 25 that he kicked last year showed that when he was on the field he made a big difference to our play. He did some very special things,” van Graan added.

“At the back end of last season we didn’t have him for the [Saracens] semi-final and he literally came back against Leinster, played for 60 minutes and went into the national team, went to the World Cup that I am not going to comment on, but he came back to us now.”

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