Out half Carty relishing new campaign which kicks off against the Dragons

JACK Carty’s eyes light up when asked about the final game of last season against Gloucester, the Champions Cup play-off.

Heroic Connacht may have lost, after extra-time, but there’s no surprise he has fond memories of that match. The Athlone man gave a near-perfect performance at 10.

Carty scored a try, three conversions and two penalties and delivered a world class display . . . in years to come it could be viewed as the day he came of age as an out-half.

“Why wasn’t I doing that for the whole season? I knew it was there, it was just kind of a case of getting it out. That’s what I should have been doing all year,” reflects Carty on Monday, the day he turns 23, at Connacht’s press briefing ahead of the resumption of the PRO 12 this weekend.

The Connacht Academy graduate refers to the ‘highs and lows’ of last season. And while he does not specify the lows, they must include being stung by criticism for his kicking, from hand and at goal, during off games.

“I suppose, nearly all players go through ups and downs at some stage in their career. It maybe came to me a bit earlier than some other fellas. Hopefully so far I’ve grown from it, and hopefully I can kick on now again and start the season how I finished. Playing 10 last year, coming into the season, I would have been quite inexperienced, and I was learning on the job. It was nearly learning from mistakes – some big mistakes, some small ones. I do feel I’ve actually learned from them.”

When head coach Pat Lam came to Connacht, at the beginning of the 2013/2014 season, Carty had just one cap. Now he has 35, and is considered first-choice out-half at the club.

That extra experience means Carty has “a bit more clarity about the game plan” and his ability to manage games has also improved.

“Game management – you only get that by playing games. One of the mistakes I would have been making was about game management, when to kick, when not to kick and the execution of kicks.”

The lows have spurred him on to become better. After team training sessions, Carty stays on, in his own time, and hones his kicking game. He even returned to pre-season training two weeks early, before his team-mates, to bulk up in the gym, and do extra running.

Assertive classes have addressed a shy streak and “helped me communicate better on the pitch . . . Whereas a couple of years ago I’d be quite shy and my communication skills wouldn’t have been where they should have been. I’m obviously still trying to get better at that but that’s maybe where I have improved the most.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.