Fly-half Joey Carbery challenged to make Ireland starting position his own

Ireland fly-half Joey Carbery has been challenged to scale new heights in his quest to permanently dislodge influential captain Johnny Sexton.

Carbery is poised to start consecutive Test matches for only the second time after retaining the number 10 jersey ahead of the fit-again Sexton for Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations meeting with Italy in Dublin.

The 26-year-old – whose career has been hampered by injury in recent years – will win his 30th international cap this weekend but almost two-thirds of those appearances have come from the bench.

Following a solid showing in the 30-24 defeat to France a fortnight ago, Ireland assistant coach Mike Catt has urged Munster player Carbery to strive for more as he seeks to fully emerge from Sexton’s shadow.

“Joey is slowly growing into himself again,” said Catt. “He had a very good performance against France, this is the next step up for him now.

“He’s got his feet under the table, under the desk, and he needs to make sure he drives to that next level.

“For us, it’s about making the right decisions at the right time – that’s always been the case for our 10s – and then bringing his X-factor.

“He’s got a very good running game which we haven’t seen too often – well, he’s been injured a lot of the time, I suppose.

“But he’s very good at attacking a line, so areas like that (are where he can offer more), but only if it’s the right thing to do and making sure that he controls the area so we’re not playing too much rugby in key areas too.”

Carbery’s only previous back-to-back starts for Ireland came last summer when 2018 world player of the year Sexton – who will be among the replacements against the Azzurri – was rested.

Andy Farrell’s selection shows six changes from the team which began