Ireland's Joe McCarthy living up to the weight of expectation

Ireland’s Joe McCarthy living up to the weight of expectation as he strives to be a World Cup breakout star after scoring a try in thumping win over Romania

• Ireland opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with 82-8 win in Bordeaux
• Joe McCarthy, 22, vindicated his selection with good display capped with a try
• Excitement has been building around the lock for some time now
• Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results

Given what they endured playing in the blazing heat, every player who came off the pitch at the Stade de Bordeaux on Saturday evening was suffering.

No one, though, could have been in greater pain than Romanian full-back Marius Simionescu. He was the man who stopped what looked a sure try for Ireland lock Joe McCarthy, somehow flinging himself into the way of the enormous Leinster man late in the game.

The courage was commendable, but the determination to make a tackle against a much bigger man with the game long gone, was remarkable.

‘It was a good tackle, yeah,’ McCarthy said with a sheepish smile later. ‘It’s tough when a back smashes you like that, but we’ll keep moving forward.’

That was the second time in the game McCarthy was denied what looked a certain score, after he was held up over the line in the first half.

Delight for Joe McCarthy as he breaches Romanian lines to score a try in Ireland’s victory

McCarthy went over for Ireland’s ninth try as they demolished Romania 82-8 in Bordeaux

He eventually got his score, but his resolution to keep moving forward would have been easily made with or without a five-pointer, because this is a player who could become one of the breakout stars of this World Cup.

The embarrassment of getting shunted back by a full back’s despairing dive will quickly pass, given the prize McCarthy is now playing for.

He was thought to be in competition with Kieran Treadwell for the fourth lock position ahead of Andy Farrell naming his World Cup squad.

When Farrell played him for the full 80 minutes against Italy in Ireland’s first warm-up game, though, McCarthy’s status to become clear.

He played almost half an hour off the bench against England a fortnight later, and his place in the travelling party was secured.

The excitement around McCarthy has been building for years. He is still just 22, and has only played 19 matches for the province. Last season was disrupted by an ankle injury, and he couldn’t find a way into the province’s squad for the Champions Cup final.

Now, he looks in a very strong position to start against South Africa in less than two weeks’ time.

‘I feel like I’m only scratching the surface,’ he said, more than an hour after the match finished on Saturday evening.

McCarthy had earlier been denied a score in the corner by Marius Simionescu’s brave tackle

The players had changed and showered, but the heat remained blindingly intense. A deep purple bruise was forming on his nose, but you suspected he didn’t feel a thing.

He had logged a fine performance against opponents limited in most aspects of the game, but whose physical power presented an occasional nuisance threat.

The Springboks will bring a fiercer challenge, and an unrelenting one, but McCarthy is making good on all the expectation.

And think of what’s to come.

‘I feel like I’ve got so much to improve as a player. I feel like every time I come into camp I’m learning from Paul O’Connell and all the world-class players we have and getting better every week.

‘I have miles, miles left (to go).’

McCarthy’s size is invariably sold as his biggest asset. It’s not so much his height – at 6ft 6ins he is around the usual mark for an Irish second row – but his weight. That is listed at 18st 8lbs, and taken together his form constitutes a powerful package of the sort that Irish locks don’t tend to possess.

McCarthy has lived up to the high expectations on his shoulders and could become a regular

This is important for scrummaging, but it’s vital against teams like France and South Africa in broken play, too.

McCarthy has softer skills, but size matters because the best teams use it to shut down games. It’s what France did to New Zealand in Paris on Friday night, as a rueful Ian Foster admitted afterwards. He credited the power of the French pack, and their game-plan looked awfully like the kind of one they might deploy should they meet Ireland in the last eight.

Withstanding the bullies that make France and South Africa so good requires muscle. McCarthy provides that, and much else.

His capacity to improve in response to high standards is one of the stand-out features of his rise, and in that he mirrors Conor Murray, whose transformation from the young kid in the 2011 squad to starting scrum-half in the quarter final could now be replicated by the second row.

‘Our attack definitely asks a lot of every player, probably more than any other team,’ said McCarthy of the demands made by the Irish style.

Tadhg Beirne was one of four Ireland players to cross over on multiple occasions on Saturday

‘No matter if you’re tight five, you have to have class hands, you have to be able to add value in the tackle.

‘You’re never out of the game for a phase, you’re always adding value somewhere.

‘You’re challenged no matter what position. You have to have world-class skills.’

Trusting them on the tautest of occasions is the next challenge, and it is starting to look increasingly likely that McCarthy could be presented with just that challenge in the Stade de France, against the world champions.

His family watched from the stands as he played on Saturday, and he was eager to record his gratitude. ‘They’ve played a massive part in getting me to where I am and they come to any game, no matter where it is, down the country some place or across the world, they’re always there.

‘They are a huge support to me.’

His wider group of supporters is a constituency primed to grow.

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