Connacht's Jack Carty earned some redemption at the weekend with a last-minute conversion to earn his side a Champions Cup victory at the Sportsground.
Carty was Connacht's last remaining choice at out-half and his poor form from placed kicks was getting intensely criticised.
But when Connacht crawled over the line to get a Naulia Dawai try to level their second clash with the Wasps, Carty was presented with an opportunity to atone for his misses in the previous meeting in London. Despite the difficult angle, Carty succeeded with his kick.
The Connacht contingent rallied around the hero of the moment with man-of-the-match Bundee Aki electing to give his award to the out-half, while outgoing head coach Pat Lam highlighted the extra kicking sessions that Carty conducted this week in preparation for the game.
What a weekend, thanks to everyone who turned out and for the support. S/O to the big man @NauliaDawai on his debut. Great team effort! 🀠pic.twitter.com/Tr7djAcYWo
— Jack Carty (@JackCarty1) December 18, 2016
Speaking to Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times after the game, Carty detailed the measures he had undertaken to improve his game.
"You try not to change that much, but where my kicking was quite inconsistent I had to change a few things. I was kind of kicking around the ball, which led to the ball being hooked a lot to the left and then I’m over-compensating in trying to put it out on the right because I knew I was doing that."
"So, it was about not hitting around the ball but kicking through it. On the first one, that’s what happened – I kind of kicked around it and dragged it left and then the next four I kicked them in the sweet spot and they went straight then."
"But I know that if I keep working, work with the right people – I was working with Eric (Elwood) and Richie Murphy this week quite a lot – and that kind of pointed me in the right direction and it’s about building on that now."
He also referred to an app he has been using to help with his mental preparation.
"I don’t know if people have heard of the Headspace app; I’d use that a good bit. It’s about focus and stuff like that. It’s the kind of thing where, say, if you had a bad performance you’d say 'Ok, I didn’t do that.' That’s what it is. It’s good to have it in the back of your mind to think about throughout the week. I had a good week with it this week so hopefully that’s what gave me the performance."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
