He doesn't have the drop goal in his armoury SeaPoint. That's why he didn't take on the shot in the RDS. That's something Eric can work with him on.

wolfball wrote: Had a look at the PRO14 stats, and indeed, his stats are a lot better than I thought:

63% away, 86% at home for a combined kick rate of 76%.
rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/Kickin...RateAway?comp_id=561

Not so much the qty of missed kick, historically he had a problem with what in golf parlance are gimmee's. And if it was early on, his game went with it getting deeper in possession and not varying his game.

Good to see a big jump in kicking performance, he still needs to get a bigger voice on the pitch as he's a senior player at this stage. Leinster game I felt he should have taken charge once we got past 20 phases and had a shot a drop goal. Marmion is super confident, but a nine is there to act as link between backs and forwards and fly half should dictate play...

Had a look at the PRO14 stats, and indeed, his stats are a lot better than I thought:

63% away, 86% at home for a combined kick rate of 76%.
rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/Kickin...RateAway?comp_id=561

Youre right about it being his make or break year,
And its alot easier to "make" it this year with Jackson being out of the irish frame.
its not easy to be a pro player, especially being the one with all eyes on you having multiple important jobs, if carty knocks on we all get on his back, if mul or matt (for example) knock on or a drop a ball they would not get as much abuse..
I will happily say that Jack is improving this year. With him not given kicking duties last year, it gave him the chance to improve his game as a 10.
Now he has that improvement done and is adding in good kicking stats..

Also like how at certain times he knows that the opposition believe hes predictable and that hes going to pass, and then he throws a dummy and creates a gap for himself..

Just hope he can gain enough self confidence in himself to back himself in certain crucial situations latest example that springs to mind, kicking to touch with 90 seconds left on the clock in the RDS and not making touch... Crucial point in the game if he hit touch we could have got line out and worked from there, whereas when he missed you would have assumed leinster would have played it slow to kill the clock (which they obviously didnt)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the match last night, but part of the Carty 'problem' has been having two excellent kickers - Cooney and Ronaldson - playing deputy to him for much of his time. Ronaldson in particular seems like he could always be an 80%+ kicker, but also spends a lot more time on the treatment table. Such is life. The important thing is that Carty continues to push on, at 25 this is a make or break year if he has international ambitions or even just wants to be seen in the conversation of top European fly halves, he has to show he's matured.

Any sign of SOB coming back any time soon?

His pen early in the game was a beauty, but you have to admit Ronaldson conversion in the end was even better.
We have kickers now. We need power in the pack though... SOB please!

Jack currently has the most penalties scored in the league with 20 and second total points on 91 (second to Byrne, 92, but Carty has one try, Byrne has 31 conversions). Carty is not in top five for conversions but is second in combined conversions and penalties to Byrne (33 versus 41, weird way to record stats pro14!)

For comparison, last year Carty had 3 tries, 8 conversions and 13 penalties, he has 13 conversions and 20 penalties for the season so far.

Rugby players often take a long time to lose a bad reputation (ask people about Sean Cronin's throwing!) but I think Elwood's coaching is rapidly bearing fruit here.

Admittedly finding it difficult to keep up to date in rugby so far this year but I think Carty's improvement has gone under the radar nationally. He's probably not getting the attention he deserves because he hasn't really kicked us to a (potentially undeserved) victory in the manner of a Rog or Sexton, and his conversion success rate is still poor, though we know a fair few Connacht tries get scored in more difficult positions wide out. All the same I think he deserves praise for vastly improving a part of his game that has caused him and Connacht problems in the past. Hopefully it is a sign of a maturing player and it will help breed confidence in his overall game.