While 13 changes from the side that so impressively defeated South Africa last week suggests that Joe Schmidt wanted to give a few younger players some experience against Fiji, there was a lot of excitement to see what they could do with the opportunity.
With Sexton rested, Joey Carbery was given a chance to strut his stuff at #10 and that is exactly what he did as he created the opening try of the match for Darren Sweetnam after just seven minutes.
Carbery exploited a defensive mismatch to bamboozle Fijian prop Campese Ma’afu with a step before guiding a sublime pass into the arms of Sweetnam who couldn't fail to score.
In the RTE studio at halftime, Shane Horgan pointed out how the Irish forwards helped to make it happen.
Such an exciting player, his handiwork went down rather well on social media.
Sexton and Carbery is Joe Montana and Steve Young.
— Ger Gilroy (@gergilroy) November 18, 2017
Magic from Joey Carbery. He's lighting this game up.
— Rúaidhrí O'Connor (@RuaidhriOC) November 18, 2017
How about the razzle dazzle from Carbery?! But his basic skills have also been excellent so far: he's managed the game superbly and his passing off both hands has kept Ireland ticking. Great fly-half performance #IREvFIJ
— Heads Up Rugby (@Heads_Up_Rugby) November 18, 2017
It's amazing how seamlessly Carbery has stepped up through the levels#IREvFIJ #IREvFJI #COYBIG
— Ciarán Duffy (@TheVoiceDepth) November 18, 2017
Having missed his opening two kicks there are still areas of his game that could use some improvement, but it's getting more and more enjoyable to watch Joey Carbery play and there's a lot more to come.
