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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Jack Carty fired up for Connacht return after all too brief Stade de France cameo

Pete Wilkins predicts Jack Carty will be fired up for Connacht this weekend after getting a very brief taste of Test level rugby on his Ireland return.

Carty replaced Joey Carbery at out-half with only 90 seconds remaining in Paris last Saturday and, with his first involvement since the last World Cup over two years ago, was charged with trying to create a try to snatch victory fromthe jaws of defeat.

It didn't work out that way as Ireland's one attack with Carty on board saw the Athlone man's ambitious pass to Dan Sheehan fail to go to hand.

With a weekend off for the Six Nations, Carty and Cian Healy are the Ireland players who had some match time in France who were among the 14 squad members released to their provinces for this weekend's URC games.

Connacht are at the Scarlets on Saturday night and Carty is likely to start - and will be hoping to impress Andy Farrell as he looks to retain his place in the Ireland set-up.

"I think Carbery was playing well, and whether there was a physical element in terms of him fatiguing or cramping at the end of the game and being forced into a late change, I'm not sure," said Wilkins, the Connacht attack coach.

"I don't know whether it was strategic or whether it was in terms of injury or fitness management, I'd have to speak to Jack about that.

"But it's obviously not a lot of time and Jack will want to present himself really well this week to make sure he puts his hand up for future opportunities I suppose.

"It's always a tough time to come into a game. I think if you're winning by a narrow margin and certainly as a 10, as a game manager if you're going on to try and steer the team home, it can be high pressure - and if you're trying to chase the game and win it at the death it can be very high pressure.

"Jack's the sort of guy who commits himself so wholly to those opportunities and certainly prepares to give himself the best chance. So at the end of the day I'm sure he'd rather have got on than not.

"The game didn't go their way this time, but obviously it was a pretty good performance overall for them."

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