Former Ireland international Alan Quinlan said while hindsight is a great thing he still feels Joey Carbery did what every other player would have done and played in the World Cup in 2019.
Speaking on Friday’s OTB AM, Quinlan disagreed with former international Luke Fitzgerald, who said Carbery should’ve not gone to Japan saying, ‘he had the chance to go to two more World Cups. If your body is not right, your body is not right.’
Carbery travelled to Japan last year with Ireland despite having an ankle injury and had further issues with the injury during the tournament. He returned home injured and was ruled out until December.
Quinlan argues that Carbery did what any player would have done and doesn’t believe he went against the advice of the medical staff.
“Professional sport is win now and win at all costs. I respect Luke a lot and he’s been through the mill with his own injuries so what I’d say to Luke is, what would’ve he done in that situation?
“I’d be pretty sure that Joey didn’t go against the medical advice. A lot of people are saying that he shouldn’t have gone to the World Cup and he probably shouldn’t have, but hindsight is a great thing.
“I would say that the medical advice at the time is he probably would’ve recovered, but he didn’t. That’s the risk you take as a player.
“It comes down to the player himself and I guarantee you if Luke was in that position, he would’ve tried to get to that World Cup.”
It’s a big blow for Munster as the 22-time capped player will now miss up to half of the 2020/21 season.
Quinlan said Carbery’s decision last autumn was by nowhere near an easy decision and only he knew how capable he was to travel to the World Cup.
“Making that decision is a risk. Saying I’ll miss out on a World Cup to recover is huge, but there is always risks in this game. That’s professional sport.
“Joey Carbery was the one who knew best about should he have gone to that World Cup. He thought it would work out and it didn’t.
“I hear that his injury is career threatening but all injuries are career threatening. You can damage something more than once. I don’t know when Joey will be back but hopefully it will be this side of Christmas.”
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