Irish-born USA Rugby fly-half Luke Carty is excited to face the country of his birth in Dublin on Saturday night.
Carty will earn his second cap for the USA Eagles when he starts against Andy Farrell’s Ireland side in front of 6,000 fans at the Aviva Stadium. You can visit lots of sites to get great offers.
The 23-year-old’s immediate family, who he has not seen since January, will be in attendance for the match.
“Obviously, it’s a bit of a strange one but I’m trying to treat it as any other game,” Carty said.
The fly-half made his debut for the national side last weekend against England in a 43-29 loss.
The Athlone native scored nine points to open his account with the United States.
Carty was happy with how his debut went after helping his side to put a high amount of points past Eddie Jones’ England.
“[My debut] was pretty cool. I was pretty nervous beforehand. Obviously, it was a big game – playing England at Twickenham, but it was really enjoyable.”
He noted that the USA camp has made him feel welcome in the setup.
The opportunity to play for America was an idea that helped entice the Westmeath man to ‘the land of opportunity.’
The thought of playing at a Rugby World Cup was also an attractive pull factor for the former Buccaneers Player of the Year.
He exclaimed that “it would be pretty cool to do that” and spoke of his pride seeing his older brother, Ireland international Jack Carty accomplish one of his lifelong dreams.
He brought the lessons that the likes of Colm ‘Cullie’ Tucker, Mossy Lawlor and Eric Elwood taught him at the Connacht Academy to the West Coast of the USA at the start of 2021.
The Connacht academy prospect joined Darren Coleman’s LA Giltinis, after almost joining Coleman’s former side Gordon, a Sydney-based Australian side.
Major League Rugby has surpassed Carty’s expectations and he is enjoying his rugby across the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’ve actually been surprised by the level of it…every team has got better as the year went on.”
He is also enjoying each and every minute of sunshine by the beach in Los Angeles, something Ireland cannot grant the fly-half on a consistent basis – a welcome culture shock.
Carty trains alongside Australian rugby legends Adam-Ashley Cooper and Matt Giteau in LA and has learnt a lot from them in the several months he has been with the club.
“It’s been great to pick their brains and learn from them and get to play alongside them.”
Irish brothers Harry and Sean McNulty are also on the books of the MLR side, with the former heading to the Olympics as part of the Ireland Sevens side.
The fly-half said the team watched the Ireland Sevens qualify from San Diego and that he is very happy for his teammate to be going to the Olympics after being an ‘original’ of the IRFU Sevens programme.
The support the Giltinis players have received while in club colours has also impressed Carty.
The games are pretty loud and [the fans] are pretty passionate about it.”
However, he has not forgotten Ireland.
The US star still keeps an eye on the Gaelic scores and noted his disappointment after Roscommon’s season-ending defeat to Galway in the Connacht Senior Football Championship.
His roommate in the US Camp, Aran Islands native Paul Mullen, likes to remind him of it.
He also hopes to see an old teammate get out on the pitch for his first Irish cap on Saturday night.
“Paul Boyle, it’s good to see him playing well…hope he gets to play on Saturday.”
However, Carty’s eyes are placed firmly on what’s ahead and more than 6,000 pairs of eyes will be placed firmly on him.
