So he and his wife and their new baby boy live in one of France’s most beautiful cities, in the heart of the most famous wine region in the world, the temperature already in the high teens ahead of the usual long, hot summer. He’s been enjoying loads of game time playing for the best-supported team in the biggest league in the world alongside an A-list cast of superstars. Okay, but apart from that, Joey Carbery, what’s good about life in Bordeaux?
Well, actually plenty more.
“The rugby is great, but the other day I was saying it to my wife if you were to pick places to live it doesn’t get much better. And most days there are Aer Lingus flights to and from Dublin. It is so easy for us if we do want to go home or people want to come over to us.”
That is not a minor consideration. Outside of Paris most Top 14 clubs are two flights, or a flight and a train, away from Ireland. When his Scottish team-mate Jonny Gray goes home he does so via Amsterdam; a door-to-door trek of circa nine hours instead of five.
Both Carbery’s parents, Joe and Amanda, and Robyn’s parents, Nigel and Louise, have visited, as well as siblings, and Robyn has availed of some weekends when Bordeaux/Begles have been on the road to skip home too.
“We probably have more visitors than we do weekends free and it’s a nice complaint to have. Plenty of babysitters!”
Carbery and Robyn, his partner since they were 19, married in the summer of 2023 and welcomed their first child Beau in June, before moving to Bordeaux in July. When asked their boy’s name, the answer has usually raised eyebrows. Beau means “handsome” in French.
“He has a lot to live up to,” laughs Carbery.
Rearing Beau in Bordeaux will always give them a special affiliation with France, but Carbery admits it’s a tougher ask on Robyn. “She’s kind of holding down the fort while I’m training or going away for games and it’s all on her. We have a babysitter over here, but she does the majority of the work.”
They’ve been living in a nice suburb about 10 minutes from Bordeaux but next Friday are moving into an apartment in le centre ville so as to have the cafes, shops and restaurants et al within walking distance.
“It’s a stunning city. I had never been here other than for rugby before and you’ve got Cap Ferrat [a ski resort in the Alps] and Arcachon out by the sea as well, which is only about 15 minutes away. It’s a beautiful place to live.”
Et le vin rouge. “The red wine is pretty good over here I must say. It’s hard to say no.”
Carbery still has the Kiwi drawl from being born and reared for 10 years in New Zealand and, as a further reminder, still punctuates his conversation with the word “sweet”. But he’s a long way from the Leinster outhalf who closed out the historic 2016 win over the All Blacks on his debut, the same week he turned 21, in Chicago.
“I’d like to think I’m the same, but I suppose my circumstances are a lot different. There’s a lot more things on my horizon now. I’m not a 21-year-old looking after myself any more. But I would say it’s definitely a change for the better. It’s so nice to be able to come home and have a really good distraction from rugby. Because after the long days training or playing away, to go home to Robyn and Beau is pretty special.”
And then there’s the rugby.
“It’s a lot different. It’s a lot more open. It’s a lot more down to your instinct, to playing what’s in front of you. It’s taken me a while to get accustomed to it but being brutally honest I love it. I love it because if you see something a lot of the guys react to you because they’re expecting it as well, and I’m pretty blessed to play with some of the players who are in my team.”
Yes indeed. Carbery trains and plays with two of the best wingers in the world in Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud, as well as Maxime Lucu, Matthieu Jalibert and Yoram Moefana.
“Our forwards are great but our backs are superstars. You see what they do for France but to train with them and to learn from them, and to know that they’re giving you the call to ‘let’s have a go’. And you’re like: ‘What’s the worst thing that can come here? I give the ball to Bielle-Barrey or Penaud and a bit of space for a one-on-one?’ That’s not a bad result.”
The training weeks are similar, save for a little more contact work, and although this interview on Thursday was delayed a tad the days are a little shorter and usually done by 1pm.
Last September Carbery suffered a fractured hand on his debut away to Lyon, but this allowed him to intensify his French studies while maintaining fitness. He’s played in all but three of his club’s last 16 games, and makes a 13th start at outhalf against Ulster in Sunday’s Champions Cup round of 16 tie at the Stade Chaban-Delmas (kick-off 12.30pm Irish time).
Returning in November, Carbery played 70 minutes off the bench away to Vannes when Bordeaux/Begles recovered from a 29-0 deficit to win 37-29. Two games later he started at outhalf in a 13-3 win which ended Castres’ long unbeaten home run. Landmark wins for his team and for him.
“There was a lot of solidarity between the players after that, and they kind of look at you and realise ‘he can do it. He is able to be part of this team.’ And to win away in France is massive. It’s a stereotype but it’s very hard to do over here.
“We played a couple of weeks ago in Perpignan and we got booed off the bus all the way to the dressingrooms! A crowd of Perpignan supporters followed us all the way and it’s probably a five or 10-minute walk. It was crazy. It’s like soccer almost over here. It’s pretty cool to play in because I don’t think there is anywhere else in world rugby at the moment where the stadiums are completely full.”
And on the flip side is the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Last season Bordeaux/Begles had an average home attendance in the Top 14 of 27,821. The next biggest was Toulouse, with 20,626, followed by Lyon on 17,710.
“We get to the ground maybe an hour and 45 minutes before kick-off, and we are greeted by about 5,000 fans off the bus. It’s an old stadium, and when they get behind you it’s deafening.”
Helpfully, and you sense this was part of the club’s thinking, their backs coach is Noel McNamara, whose career has taken him from the 2019 Irish under-20 Grand Slam side to the Leinster academy via the Sharks in Durban to recently signing an extension with Bordeaux/Begles.
“He speaks perfect French but as a 10 to have your attacking and backs coach as good as him, and being able to speak to him in English is great.”
French club rugby is littered with imports who have struggled and it’s an especially demanding environment for a non-native at 10 where the need for communication is accentuated. Soon after his arrival he had to make a presentation in pre-season. But on reflection he admits being “thrown in at the deep end” was perhaps no harm.
“I think my French is good sometimes and then other times they talk so quickly that I don’t know what I’m doing. It will take me a long time to get to where I want it to be but in rugby terms it’s not too bad because we deal with it every day. I suppose I have enough French that I can communicate to guys. During the game it’s rugby stuff, so that’s not a big issue.”
All in all, he couldn’t be happier with life and his rugby.
“I’m loving it, absolutely loving it. It’s a breath of fresh air for me, to be honest. I’m learning so much from them, being involved and seeing how these French boys operate.”
But looking back on his time with Leinster and Munster he has no bitterness or regrets, save for injuries. His main reason for playing in Ireland was, well, to play for Ireland. Being dropped from the squad since before the 2023 Six Nations prompted his move.
“I look back with fond memories of friends for life in both camps and in the Irish camp as well. So there’s no regrets which is a nice thing to say. I think where I was in Ireland I wasn’t enjoying rugby. I wasn’t enjoying the day-to-day of it all. So for me to come over here and then fall back in love with rugby is really nice.”
Carbery does believes he was given a slightly raw deal.
“I suppose I would be biased about myself in that I would think I was unfairly treated. I don’t think my game changed a huge amount and then I see the guys now, Jack [Crowley] and Sam [Prendergast]. They’re both good players but I also think I never had consistent games. I was always behind Johnny and even, once or twice when he got injured and I got one or two games in a row, he was always then picked regardless of my form.”
Since the last World Cup Crowley had eight successive starts before Prendergast was afforded four. By contrast, 25 of Carbery’s 37 caps were off the bench, and only once did he start even two Tests in succession.
Being jettisoned less than a year out from the 2023 World Cup hurt.
“It was a sad way to end it because I didn’t have a say in it. I didn’t think I necessarily deserved to be dropped quite that abruptly, but rugby is unfortunately down to opinion a lot of the time and if one person thinks one person is better for the team and he’s the man in charge then that’s what happens. So, yeah, it is what it is.”
He has a two-year contract with Bordeaux and is happy to “keep an open mind” as to what his future holds. He’ll only be 30, and one’s 30s can often be an outhalf’s best years.
“The number one is family and making sure Robyn and Beau are happy but it’s also the quality of the rugby and you also have to think about financials. There’s a few things that come into it now. So we’ll see what happens. I love Bordeaux but if the IRFU came knocking again that’s pretty hard to say no to as well.”
Winning silverware with Bordeaux/Begles is the primary objective this season. A first bouclier would be the club’s obvious preference, and they sit second in the Top 14.
But under Yannick Bru, a former Toulouse Champions Cup winner as a player, the club have a taste for Europe. Carbery has heard several references to atoning for last season’s quarter-final loss at home to Harlequins this week and by dint of finishing as first seeds Bordeaux Begles have earned themselves potential home advantage all the way to the final in Cardiff.
Carbery has also been explaining the mentality of Irish teams in the Champions Cup this week.
“In Ireland it’s the be-all and end-all. Having been involved in winning a Champions Cup I love playing in it. It’s a great competition. I know the Irish mentality for a game like this where Ulster have absolutely nothing to lose. They are going to come over and they’ll make it tricky and they’ll make it a bit of a dogfight.
“People are saying they’re not going that well but I think they are going to be a different animal come Sunday. We have to definitely have our wits about us.”
He has a little history with Ulster supporters. He was subjected to comments about him not being good enough to play for Ireland at the Kingspan last December and after landing a difficult conversion to put Bordeaux Begles ahead en route to their 40-19 pool win, he cupped his right ear towards them.
That was a moment which made you realise something else too. Joey has his joie de vivre back.
