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The 42
19-05-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Seven years on, Carbery aims for second Champions Cup medal
WHEN JOEY CARBERY helped Leinster to their most recent Champions Cup trophy in 2018, as well as the Pro14 crown a week later, there were lots of people who thought the talented playmaker would go on to guide the province to a few more of those titles. Carbery himself might have been among them. He had yet to confirm his decision to move to Munster that summer and as Carbery weighed up that switch, the possibility of winning more silverware with Leinster must have been difficult to resist. Athy man Carbery had enjoyed two strong seasons for his home province, with 23 in 37 appearances over the 2016/17 and 2017/18 campaigns. Sure, many of them came at fullback and Carbery wanted to be an out-half but he was playing well with Leinster. The young New Zealand native was also establishing himself as the back-up to Johnny Sexton with Ireland, earning 13 Test caps in those two first years of international rugby. Leinster had just secured their fourth Champions Cup title and were already beginning to dream of a fifth star. Carbery was an unused replacement in that 2018 final win over Racing 92 in Bilbao, but he played his part in the run to the decider. There were two starts at fullback in the pool stages, as well as replacement appearances in the quarter-final and semi-final. Carbery's winner's medal was well-earned. Advertisement There are many from the 2018 final still playing with Leinster now and still searching for that elusive fifth Champions Cup crown. Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Luke McGrath, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, and Jordan Larmour all started the 2018 decider, as did the soon-to-retire Cian Healy. Andrew Porter, Jack Conan, and Jamison Gibson-Park were on the bench. Carbery after the 2018 Champions Cup final. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Given what he has been through with injuries in the years since and given Leinster's strength during that time, it's a little crazy that Carbery could have his second Champions Cup winner's medal before any of those former team-mates. Carbery is now part of the Bordeaux set-up plotting to win this competition for the first time, as well as chasing the Top 14 title. 'The assault on history' reads the front page headline on today's edition of Midi Olympique. An exciting Northampton group stand in their way, having already ended Leinster's campaign in the semi-finals. The Top 14 side are viewed as favourites, having dethroned Toulouse in the semi-finals. Both finalists went strong with their domestic selections last weekend, opting against resting key players a week out from the Champions Cup final. Bordeaux enjoyed a 34-29 win over Castres in the Top 14, while Northampton had a 28-24 win against Saracens in the Premiership. Both of them are bouncing into this Saturday's decider in Cardiff. Carbery came off the bench for starting out-half Matthieu Jalibert against Castres and that will be his likely role in the Champions Cup final unless Bordeaux boss Yannick Bru decides to go for a 6/2 split with his replacements. That was the case for one of their pool games and the quarter-final against Munster, with Carbery missing out on involvement in both cases as Bru went with a scrum-half and an out-and-out back three player as the two backline substitutes. That would be cruel on Carbery, so he'll be hoping Bordeaux's coaches go for the classic 5/3 split they've used in their other five Champions Cup games this season, including the semi-final victory against Toulouse. Carbery has been enjoying life with Bordeaux. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO A second Champions Cup medal would add handsomely to the list of achievements Carbery has already put together in rugby. His injury record means there is understandable sympathy towards him from many quarters, but Carbery has done things that many players can only dream about. An international debut at the age of 21 that involved kicking a conversion as Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time in their history. Four appearances in a Grand Slam success in 2018. A series win in Australia in 2018 and an even bigger one in New Zealand in 2022. Carbery has 37 Ireland caps in total. He didn't play for Munster in the URC knock-outs in 2023 but made 10 starts in that title-winning campaign, while he also won an AIL with Clontarf and a Leinster Schools Senior Cup with Blackrock. That's plenty of success and he's still only 29. A victory with Bordeaux this weekend might be as sweet as any given the road Carbery has taken since that double with Leinster in 2018. It has been the one less travelled but the talented Irishman is chasing down another double now.
Wales Online
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Fiji rugby international killed at 30 as car 'hit by train in front of team-mates'
Fiji rugby international killed at 30 as car 'hit by train in front of team-mates' Tragic news has emerged from France this morning with the rugby world left in shock Raisuqe (left) has been killed in a tragic accident at the age of 30 Fijian international Josaia Raisuqe has been killed in a road accident, according to reports in France. The Castres wing was reportedly involved in the accident while he was on his way to training with the French club and he passed away this morning. He was just 30 years old. Multiple reports in France say that Raisuqe's car was hit by a train while at a level crossing, although the exact circumstances of the accident are yet to be determined. It has also been reported that the Castres players have been released for the day, with their match with Clermont on Saturday afternoon now set to be postponed. Midi Olympique report that the winger died instantly after his vehicle was hit by a train at a level crossing in the Saix area, with several of his teammates "present at the scene of the accident and witnessing the incident". Raisuque spent the majority of his career in France, representing Stade Francais and Nevers as well as Castres, while he had agreed to join Brive in the Pro D2 ahead of next season. The Fijian finished the 2018/19 season as the Pro D2's top try scorer, having scored 15 tries over the course of the campaign. Article continues below He also made 21 appearances for the Fiji 7s team, helping them to win a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year. Castres are yet to make an official statement, but changed their club logo on social media to black and white as the tragic news broke on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, other clubs from around France have paid tribute. A statement from Toulouse issued on Thursday morning read: "Toulouse were shocked to learn of the death of Josaia Raisuqe this morning in a road accident. 'The entire club wishes to express its support and sincere condolences to his family, loved ones and his club, Castres Olympique.' Toulon also paid tribute, with a club statement reading: "Rugby Club Toulonnais is devastated to learn of the death of Josaia Raisuqe this morning, while he was on his way to training. "Our thoughts go out to his family, his loved ones, his teammates, the Castres Olympique club and his supporters." A statement from Vannes read: "The @RugbyClubVannes learned with horror this morning of the death of Josaia Raisuqe in a road accident. "We would like to express our support and our most sincere condolences to his family, his loved ones, his teammates and to the entire @CastresRugby." Article continues below Raisuqe's former Nevers coach Xavier Péméja told Midi Olympique: "Josaia was an absolutely adorable boy. He was always the first in training, whether it was raining, windy or snowing "On the pitch, he was capable of incredible flashes of brilliance. He did us a world of good when he arrived at the club. All his opponents feared him, he was a try-scoring machine."
Irish Examiner
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Only one thing counts as Bordeaux and Toulouse square up
There are several ways to approach Sunday's all-Top 14 Champions Cup semi-final between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Depending on your starting point, it's one, or more, or all, of the following: a high-stakes face-off between by far the two best sides in France; ambitious rugby upstarts versus the game's establishment princes; a rerun of last year's Top 14 final, or the 2021 Champions Cup semi-final; and, therefore, a two-in-one chance for revenge for Bordeaux; an early preview of this year's probable Top 14 final at the end of June; time for Toulouse to correct the record after not one but two defeats to the same opponents already this season; and/or a first opportunity for Bordeaux to test themselves for the first time this campaign against full-bore jeu de mains, jeu de Toulousains after a pair of mixed league wins over heavily rotated 23s. Alternatively, it's none of the above. Both Bordeaux and Toulouse have hit bumps on the road to the Matmut Atlantique. And, fair — or, rather, unfair — warning: Sunday's stormy weather forecast is unconducive to both sides' first-choice high-pace, fling-it rugby. Last Saturday, La Rochelle defended Bordeaux off the ball and out of the game at Stade Chaban Delmas. It definitely wasn't pretty rugby. Whether it was clever is debatable. But it was effective — which is easily taken for clever in the right light. Toulouse boss Ugo Mola, no doubt, watched with interest. Bordeaux's Yannick Bru admitted to Midi Olympique this week that the result, 'was clearly a setback, a drop in vigilance, a drop in all our performance standards'. But he insisted it was nothing more than a blip — an important lesson. 'We quickly debriefed,' he said, 'because you can watch it over and over again, we will always lose — and it wasn't a priority.' There's no denying, though, this was a badly timed defeat. Bordeaux selected as close to their first-choice squad as injuries and rest periods would allow. The expectation, clearly, was to bring a four-match winning streak, with all the confidence that adds, into this weekend. Instead, they were a long way second best at home against a side that had, only the previous weekend, finally broken a 105-day winless run. That hurts. Doubly so, for a side competing on two fronts at the start of the business end of the season. Worse, it means they remain vulnerable to a late Top 14 charge from third-placed Toulon — who welcome both the top two sides to Stade Mayol in the closing weeks of the regular season. Meanwhile, the limits of Toulouse's much-vaunted squad depth are being stress-tested. Losing Antoine Dupont to an ACL injury during the Six Nations seemed to have barely slowed them. They have won five of their six matches in all competitions since he was helped off the Aviva Stadium pitch in early March. Their only defeat? At Bordeaux. Paul Graou — a scrum-half too good to wear the term 'understudy', for all that's exactly what he joined Toulouse knowing he would be — and Japan international Naoto Saito have done their jobs admirably, as they should, after the club passed on the idea of seeking a medical joker to cover Dupont's extended absence. But Saito suffered an ankle injury in the win over Stade Francais a fortnight ago. Two weeks previously, Italian international Ange Capuozzo — slated as additional cover at nine — also injured his ankle in the Champions Cup round-of-16 win over Sale. On Saturday, Toulouse put 52 points on Castres at Stadium Toulouse, with a 19-year-old at nine on his second senior start. He scored his first senior try before ceding his place to an 18-year-old replacement making his big boy debut off the bench. Both of them are, already, France under-U20 internationals. A Champions Cup semi-final, however, is far from what was already close to a no-consequences late-season domestic clash — notwithstanding that it was a derby — for the Top 14 leaders and Champions Cup holders. Early this week, reports suggested Saito and Capuozzo were in line to return for tomorrow's Sunday's semi-final trip. That was the good news, after Graou had been kept as far away from the pitch as propriety would allow last weekend. But that was drowned out by waves of bad from the Toulouse camp. Blair Kinghorn has been sidelined until the end of May at the earliest with a knee injury in last Saturday's victory. The club confirmed on Wednesday that hooker Peato Mauvaka is out for several months with a knee injury. Then, on Thursday, reports broke that fullback and goalkicker Thomas Ramos, could miss the last-four match because of a calf strain. Sunday's semi-final is the first match of the rest of the season for the top two in French rugby's top flight. It might be time to set aside hopes of a bravura, springtime showpiece. Given the expected conditions in Bordeaux and the understandable stakes, only one thing matters.
