Having spent the past two years outside of the Irish system, Joey Carbery makes no bones about his ambitions heading into a World Cup year.

"Play for Ireland, I'll just go out there and say it," the fly-half tells the Ireland Rugby Social.

"It's what I want. It was a big reason to come home, to give these next three or four years the best shot I can. I want to let my rugby do the talking and hopefully that's enough."

With just two starts under his belt since rejoining Leinster from Bordeaux-Begles, Carbery missed out on Andy Farrell's latest Ireland squad, instead being included in Mark Sexton's Ireland XV panel for next week's match against Fiji 'A' in Cork.

Coincidentally, Carbery's last Test cap came in Ireland's November 2022 victory over Fiji.

"It's a foot back in the door of the Irish system and the way they play," added the 31-year-old.

"It's a pretty young squad to be involved with, there's a few older lads in it as well but it's nice to be back in the Irish fold."

New Zealand-born Carbery was long viewed as Johnny Sexton's heir apparent, serving as the legendary out-half's understudy at Leinster and Ireland.

He made his Ireland debut in the famous Chicago win over the All Blacks in November 2016 and, in 2018, was Sexton's deputy during the Grand Slam campaign before helping Leinster secure a Pro14 and Champions Cup double.

The problem soon became clear, though. While Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster saw Carbery's future at full-back, Ireland boss Joe Schmidt told the player he wouldn't pick him if he wasn't playing at fly-half.

With that, he left Leinster for rivals Munster in the summer of 2018 in a bid to boost his Test career.

"Ulster and Munster were on the table. It came down to whether I wanted to play for Ireland or not," recalled Carbery.

"I was told that if I wasn't playing 10 I wasn't going to be picked because Stuart in Leinster played me at 15 more than 10 because he thought I was a better 15.

"Joe said 'no, I want you as a 10, if you don't play there I can't pick you'. The 2019 World Cup was just on the horizon, I went to Munster in 2018 so that was coming up, that's how it all came about."

It wasn't all smooth sailing in red, though. Having already missed a significant number of games through injury, the emergence of Jack Crowley - who made his Ireland debut in Carbery's last cap - pushed him closer to the exit door.

Left out of Ireland's Six Nations and World Cup squads in 2023, Noel McNamara - with whom he had crossed paths at Leinster - asked if he would be interested in joining Bordeaux, the chance to experience the Top 14 in France proved irresistible.

"Mentally, I was in a bit of a rut," reflected the former Blackrock College star, whose injury woes in France restricted him to just four starts last season.

"It was a pretty awful way to finish [with Munster] because you go from starting to being completely cut off and getting no feedback and no answers.

"I remember Faz [Andy Farrell] even ringing me to say, 'look, you're not going to be in the World Cup squad' and I was like, 'I didn't even expect a call from you' because I hadn't played for the last six weeks. I didn't even think I'd get a call."

In addition to re-establishing himself as a contender for Ireland's 10 jersey, Carbery hopes to help Leinster's push back to the European summit, with the province having failed to win the Champions Cup during his eight years away.

And while this season is Leo Cullen's last as Leinster head coach, Carbery is thrilled by the prospect of linking back up with McNamara, who was confirmed as Cullen's successor last week.

"The way he's built his CV up, it's crazy the similarities between him and Joe [Schmidt]. Both were schoolteachers, both went to France and both came back to Leinster head coach role.

"I worked with him at underage and worked with him at Bordeaux. For a foreigner to come into a French group like that with the egos we had and to be listened to, the way he conducted himself and talked to the players was incredible.

"I think he's the perfect man for the job, it's really exciting, for me anyway, to be working with him again.

"As a person, a top man and a really good coach. That's a big part of being the Leinster coach because the squad is so big and you have internationals that won't even get into the matchday 15 sometimes so you have to be able to deal with that and understand that."