THERE’S BEEN A summer break and a pre-season in between, but Jack Crowley must be hoping to pick up where he left off when he gets back into action this Saturday in Dublin.
The 23-year-old Munster out-half will make his second start for Ireland in their World Cup warm-up Test against Italy, with head coach Andy Farrell giving him the first chance at number 10 while Johnny Sexton is suspended.
The skipper will miss all three of the warm-up games, so opportunity knocks this month for both Crowley and Ross Byrne, who isn’t involved this weekend. Ciarán Frawley will provide the out-half cover as he gets set for his Irish debut.
All eyes will be on Crowley as he looks to continue his upward trajectory. He is still learning and it’s worth remembering that he had a few tough games with Munster last season, but there’s no doubt he finished the campaign in style.
His game-winning drop-goal in the URC semi-final against Leinster will live long in the memory, while Crowley was also excellent in Munster’s final victory over the Stormers. He played at inside centre for his province earlier in the season and even had a start at fullback but he ended up as the first-choice out-half.
His rise with Ireland was rather sudden. Having debuted off the bench against Fiji last November, he was catapulted into the starting team versus Australia a week later after a last-minute injury for Sexton.
His involvement in the Six Nations earlier this year amounted to a few minutes off the bench against Italy but even that cameo was promising. This Saturday, Crowley gets a big chance to challenge the pecking order behind Sexton, with Byrne having played in all five Six Nations games, starting against the Italians.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said that Crowley has been “excellent” in pre-season, while acknowledging that everyone looks good in training before the action kicks off.
“He has been going great,” continued Farrell. “I have seen his confidence grow, obviously from what happened with Munster, being able to help navigate his team through those difficult periods at the end and get some success. I have seen his confidence grow.
“The selection at the start of the week for all the players is interesting because as coaches you’re seeing everyone really get stuck in and really driving to get better every single day.
“The minute that selection comes, it’s a different week, as far as managing the team and being the main general, as far as Jack is concerned.
“We have been keeping a close eye on that and he has been excellent so far, excellent so far. A day off today, in this evening, captain’s run tomorrow, hopefully the confidence continues.”
Meanwhile, Sexton continues with his preparation behind the scenes.
It will be disappointing for the Irish captain not to have a chance to play in the Aviva Stadium one last time, but Farrell said Sexton has been a positive presence and is fully recovered from the groin injury that has kept him sidelined since March.
“He’s been all systems go, right from the start,” said the Ireland boss.
“I mean, we didn’t do much contact at the start anyway, so he was building through that. I think he maybe had two weeks before he was able to do that at the start of pre-season.
“He’s not missed a session, he’s not dropped out of anything. He’s back fully kicking, etc. If there was a game two or three weeks ago, he was able to play, no doubt.
“Look, obviously he is disappointed not to be able to play in these games but it takes a day or two to get your head around it and to plan and keep pushing forward.”
Farrell’s team selection threw up lots of talking points, with Joe McCarthy getting his first Test start in the second row, Craig Casey getting a start at scrum-half, and several unfamiliar combinations getting a run-out, with some debuts to come off the bench.
Farrell said it was important to name a team that has “experience and youth” so he and his coaches can judge the players properly.
“I’m 100% sure there are some individuals that will take the field saying to themselves that ‘this a big chance and big opportunity for me.’
“You’ve got to surround those people with good enough experienced players as well to be able to judge them properly, so we’re looking forward to that.”
