Ireland star Joe McCarthy has said it is time to get ‘more serious’ as he cut off his iconic long mullet ahead of the new URC season.

McCarthy, who travelled down to South Africa for Leinster’s opening two games but didn’t feature, is looking to hit the ground running as Leinster return to the RDS (now the Laya Arena) to face Cardiff.

It’s hard to miss the elder McCarthy at the best of times with his 6’6 frame, but for the past few years he’s stood out even more for his long-flowing mullet. However, the mullet is no more, as he explained why he decided to go for a more tamed look.

joe mccarthy leinster ireland
Joe McCarthy. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

‘I’ve had some dodgy ones. It was just looking a bit raggedy. It had maybe run its course a bit. I cut it to change it and maybe tidy up my appearance, make me look more serious. I’m getting older! I have to leave that behind me.’

McCarthy has an almost veteran presence in the squad these days, with this season marking his sixth as a senior Leinster player, but he is still only 25 years old. Having spent the last two weeks in South Africa with many of the next generation of Leinster players coming through, time was hitting McCarthy fast.

‘It’s so weird because they probably look at me like I’m quite an old player. They’re all 18, 19, so I’m like, “Jeez, it feels like it was yesterday when I was coming out of school”.’

Joe McCarthy
Joe McCarthy during a Leinster Rugby squad training session at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pic: Deon van der Merwe/Sportsfile

This Saturday will see Leinster return to the newly renovated, over 20,000-seater Laya Arena after a 2-year residency at the Aviva Stadium. And while McCarthy and Leinster are hoping first of all to get the reigning URC Champion’s first win of the new season, they are hoping to mark the occasion in style too.

‘The lads are really buzzed to get back into the Laya Arena,’ McCarthy said. ‘You want to put on a proper show that fans are happy and proud to show up to and watch. There are no guarantees, but it definitely felt like we were a lot more on the same page on how we were trying to evolve our attack and get better at defence.

‘It definitely feels like we’ve bedded in and we’re going to have a bit of a fresh attack and feel coming into the season. You want it to be a special night. You want to entertain, you obviously want to win and play well. I can’t wait to rip in. We’re ready to explode into Saturday.’