Ireland's Carty conundrum: Is he the answer to a Sexton-sized problem?

The complexity surrounding Ireland’s future in a post-Sexton reality is integral to the future path, and as his career draws to a close-the question of why they’ve neglected alternative archetypes grows ever more evident.

The curious case of Jack Carty having strong form at club level and missing out again and again internationally is a representation Ross Byrne fits the former, and has been the best near-identical Sexton clone for Ireland, but lacking the elite control, construction and option taking that made Sexton great.

Jack Carty players a completely different style, the absolute latter. A Sexton-less Leinster bottled the Champions Cup, and failed to even make the final in the URC.

Jack Carty has consistently put out solid to superb performances for Connacht, guiding them into the semi finals this year. Yet, one may often feel that for his talent, he has heavily underwhelmed. His niche role is the key cause for his lack of championship success/test caps, in my opinion. Thus, The curious case of Jack Carty is a perfect illustration of this conundrum.

To understand why, one must first understand the role of Sexton’s function as a Durable Distributor in the main line.

A Durable Distributor/Driving 10 is a larger player, above 90kg, who has the carrying threat be able to make a strong break. While Carty has the pass, carry, and decent agility to have an outside break up his sleeve, he does not have the line running and precision of movements that characterized Sexton in his prime 2017/2018 form.

Sexton’s role in direct running and distributing is extremely important when it comes to what makes him good at a top level. His physicality and strength in the region of contact, as well as his ability to ride snagging hits ensures that his carrying pods do not get eaten up. This is crucial in running phase sequences with small 2-man pods. With 3-man pods, an agile, floating 10 like Jack Carty has more bailouts, but an isolated pivot like Sexton often needs to have that durability and directness.

Carty has the passing accuracy, to a large extent the athleticism and carrying solidity to perform this role, but its his short passing game that doesn’t make the elite end of the game.

In this example, his static turn right off catching the pass cuts off the outside angle for Farrell to hit. Ideally, this set up is supposed to use one hit up and allow Carty to then progress outside and run the break. His short range passing movement lacks the selling of a carry, as he fails to straighten. His lack of durability in terms of maintaining his direct lines costs him in terms of running a system like Ireland’s.

Of course, we also have to appreciate the ton that he offers any team in attack. A massive boot, an array of tactical, territorial, and attacking kicks in his arsenal. His baller talents from Gaelic Football give him an edge in this regard. Meanwhile, he tends to excel as more of a mid-to-long range passer.

Off a turnover ball, he arranges two forward blockers with two handling midfielders(Hansen as a looped winger playmaker). They go straight to Carty, who uses the flat decoys to hold 6 rushing defenders in the middle of the field, firing out to the edge for Hansen. Had Hansen released the ball, it could be a clean break. The following pullback and under’s ball with a sharp pass grants the space for Chris Farrell to make the break through the same space of the pod’s decoy.

His tactical arrangement phase after phase is key to opening gaps with simple-looking movements like his unders pass that unlocks the Cardiff defence, leading to a two-phase score.

Tom Savage of the Three Red Kings classified the Floating Strategist as a floating 10 that is less anchored within a system with focus on a buffed skillset in passing and kicking in place of a agile breaking game. I feel a floating strategist is a floating flyhalf variant that has astute application of his skillset, reshuffling his ranks and evolving his position, creating and selecting the right options to spark tempo and momentum.

In my opinion, Carty stands in the elite tier of George Ford, Finn Russell, and Nicolas Sanchez in terms of this style of play. However, his USP is actually a barrier. His excellent mid range and long range passing is not a plus point to Ireland’s system, since Mack Hansen/Ringrose/Aki are often making the mid to long range passes, with #10 Sexton/Byrne as a direct looping pivot that slides between the units and slotting the ball into the right layers. Under them, the blindside wing/outside centre takes over as a secondary playmaker to make a killer pass.

It is a shame, when Connacht’s system has allowed Hansen, Aki, and Farrell to shine and earn starts, does not propel its lynchpin to being a regular starter/stand in at the international level. Carty is 30, and does not have many more years in his career. He’s certainly an elite creative/kicking 10 and is an option post-Sexton to ensure a structured system in Ireland, which has a role twin of Jack Crowley/Ben Healy.

Johnny Sexton. (Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)

As of the moment, the Irish system seems to be built for replaceability, where Byrne can slot in and deliver, through direct distribution and reasonable decision making. This shoves asides other sophisticated archetypes, resulting in unique outlets like Carty being neglected at the elite level.

Yet, the job of mid/long range passing, floating and reorganizing, was performed at passages against Australia to a solid level by Jack Crowley. In fact, the Munster pivot showed us, perhaps how Carty could slot into a game: A sharp passer that elongated the attack, as well as a floating outlet that made the right calls and moved the ball into space.

Jack Carty has always looked like a 10 with potential, elite playmaking, kicking, and handling skills as well as world class tactical abilities in terms of arranging structured play and controlling the flow of a game through his passing, kicking, and pivoting.Yet, at 30 years of age, he’s only had 16 Irish caps, and has yet to win a major club title as a flyhalf. George Ford, has 84 caps, and in 2021/22, put in key semi-final cameos that guided two different Premiership sides into big finals against the odds.

Whether Carty ever makes an international comeback remains to be known. But Ireland look impotent without Sexton, and a Carty/Crowley/Carbery width and tempo based attacking attacking structure seems eminent to maintaining their global dominance especially with Byrne not being an elite all round 10. The only question is not of how, but whether Ireland are willing to switch up the intricate sliding set moves honed for 4 years.