Irish rivalries 'always there' for Bordeaux's Carbery

Joey Carbery joined Bordeaux-Begles this summer

Bordeaux Begles fly-half Joey Carbery is looking forward to a "special" trip to Ulster in the Champions Cup on Saturday afternoon.

The 29-year-old former Leinster and Munster player will be taking on Irish opposition for the first time since he switched to the Top 14 side this summer and gets the nod in the 10 jersey after coming off the bench in last week's win over Leicester Tigers.

Having won 37 Ireland caps between 2016 and '22, Carbery has played with a number of those who will be in opposition at Kingspan Stadium, while he has plenty of experience of visiting Belfast with his previous employers.

"That rivalry is always there," Carbery said.

"It'll be interesting to see what it's like going over with UBB.

"It's very special for me to be going over with UBB to play in Ireland. I'll have family coming up to it, so I'm looking forward to it."

Carbery is not the only Irishman involved with Bordeaux. County Clare native Noel McNamara is also the side's attack coach.

Both offered their insights to the wider panel this week, including warning that Ulster will be a different proposition to the side who conceded 61 points in defeat to Toulouse last week when back at Kingspan Stadium.

"With Munster, I only went up there once or twice when we won," Carbery added.

"It's a difficult place to go and win, they're always on top of their game there.

"I tried to get that across, that no matter what happened last week, they'll be a different team this week."