Keith Wood believes that Munster have to play to Joey Carbery’s strengths to get the best for the team, and avoid reverting to their playing style when Ronan O’Gara was in the side.
Keith joined Off The Ball for Wednesday Night Rugby in association with Eir Sport, and clarified not only the best way to play with Carbery, but also what he brings to a fanbase that has been looking for a talisman.
“I would say that if Munster get Joey Carbery and decide that they are going to play the way they played with Ronan O’Gara, then that would be a waste of a really good player,” said Keith.
“Carbery’s skills are different. They are just different.
“ROG plays a style, and Munster played a style, that suited them at that time to win European Cups.
“Carbery is just different. If we are going to talk about things that Munster are lacking, they do lack that ‘x-factor’-type player.
“He takes the ball a lot flatter, he’s attacking the line and looking for it very, very quick.
“For me, it’s quite hard to see whether there’s any discernible change in it because I want to see him with Conor Murray playing at 9 - to see what the two can do together, because when you’ve got a big, senior 9 who is able to take the pressure off the 10 – all you want is the 10 to make the right choice at the right time.
“What the other players are going to have to do is realise that there’s a play on, but if their 10 says ‘I’m going to have a go’, they have to follow him and back him to the hilt because otherwise there’s no point in having him at 10.”
Keith believes that Munster needed to replace the electricity that Simon Zebo sent through the crowd, and that they might have the right man.
“We lost a player in Zebo who had a spark that the crowd reacted to. Well, we saw it from one loose kick from somebody trying to find touch and not finding it, and suddenly [Carbery’s] got the gas, he’s got the spark.
“He has a long way to fight for his position because there are a lot of guys fighting, but Munster need spark at different times. They know that Munster have a pack of forwards that will be hard, nuggety, difficult and professional, but every now and then you need someone with a key to unlock a back-line.
“Carbery has that in spades.”
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