'Big Joe' McCarthy: 'We probably didn’t expect to get such a high score'
Rookie second row Joe McCarthy was named Ireland's men of the match after a resounding 38-17 win over France in the opening match of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations.
It was performance that helps copper fasten the growing reputation of player who is being talked about in Irish rugby circles as a potential generational talent at lock. And it looks like he already as a nickname that is sticking, with the rather unoriginal moniker 'Big Joe' already being used by Irish broadcasters when referring to the 6'6, 119kg lock.
McCarthy told ITV Sport: “I’m very happy, it’s never easy away in France, we probably didn’t expect to get such a high score but we’re really happy, the atmosphere was mental, everyone really dug in and it was fantastic team form.
“Our set-piece went well, we won our lineout ball, got a good strike off that, we were in sync as a team and everyone kind of played their parts.
Jack Crowley kicked 13 points in his first Six Nations start and McCarthy said of the Ireland fly-half: “He’s an absolute baller. He’s such a competitor, great man to lead the group, a great fella. Tonight he played unbelievable, he just drove us around the pitch.”
Ireland never trailed after earning an early lead but McCarthy said of their opponents: “France are never dead.
“You can see they get a few scores there and choke the ball and make something out of nothing, so we have to focus and stay on them every play and keep going after them.”
additional reporting PA
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I’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. Second, New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
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