Rugby-Fardy off to Leinster, Carter stays in Australia

SYDNEY, March 3 (Reuters) - Wallabies flanker Scott Fardy will leave Australia for Irish provincial team Leinster at the end of the season but his international and ACT Brumbies team mate Sam Carter has signed a contract extension to stay at home until 2019. Fardy, who was a fixture on the blindside of the Australia back row for four years until last season, told the Canberra Times he still had hopes of playing at a second World Cup in 2019 after his two years in Dublin. Coming into the Wallabies side in the wake of the 2013 British and Irish Lions series loss, the bearded Fardy became the abrasive foil to the guile of David Pocock and effervescence of Michael Hooper in the Australia back row. The 32-year-old fell out of favour with Michael Cheika last season as the Australia coach tried to find a balance in his loose forwards and he won four of the last six of his 39 caps off the bench. Lock Carter, who has earned 13 caps since his debut in 2014 but played just once last year, said the chance to feature in the 2019 World Cup in Japan was a major motivating factor in his decision to stay in Australia. "Sam didn't get as much game time for the Wallabies as he would have liked last year but he showed great character in how hard he worked on the training field," Cheika said. "For Sam to knock back overseas offers and stay in Australia also shows how seriously he's taking his new role as captain at the Brumbies and that he's not a one-and-out type of guy." (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Ken Ferris)