JUST BEFORE TOM Farrell scored the try that took Munster back in front in Toulon, Craig Casey carried into contact with Jérémy Sinzelle.
As play continued, with Dan Kelly and Alex Nankivell combining to tee up Farrell, the watching Ireland head coach Andy Farrell probably noticed Casey still hunched over in the same spot where he had been tackled, clutching at his left shoulder.
As Munster fans then celebrated Jack Crowley’s successful conversion to leave Munster in the lead with seven minutes left, there was a brief TV shot of Casey leaving the pitch in clear pain.
This was a clear cause for concern for Ireland boss Farrell.
Munster boss Clayton McMillan confirmed post-match that Casey’s issue was “reasonably serious” and that he would go for a scan, which is never encouraging news.
Casey’s injury is obviously tough for Munster, particularly as substitute scrum-half Paddy Patterson suffered a head injury during the warm-up in Toulon and was replaced by Ethan Coughlan.
But Casey also becomes a doubt for Ireland’s Six Nations opener against France in three-and-a-half weeks in Paris. It would be another hard blow for Casey when it comes to Ireland if he were ruled out.
He suffered a bad head injury when he got a big start against South Africa in the summer of 2024, ruling him out of the second Test against the Springboks, while a badly-timed knee injury meant he missed all of last year’s Six Nations.
The Munster man was nailed on to be on the Irish bench for the upcoming game in Paris, offering strong support for first-choice scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
Craig Casey in Toulon. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
It would be cruel for Casey if he were to miss even part of this Six Nations. Despite Gibson-Park’s importance to Ireland, Casey has become an increasingly prominent figure in Farrell’s set-up. He captained the Irish tour of Georgia and Portugal last summer.
So the hope is that the scan on his injury has shown that things aren’t as bad as initially feared.
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There has been clear daylight between Casey and the rest of the Irish contenders at scrum-half since the retirement of Conor Murray at the end of last season, but Farrell may have to have another good look now, depending on the prognosis for Casey.
The only two other scrum-halves capped by Farrell during this World Cup cycle are Connacht duo Caolin Blade and Ben Murphy.
31-year-old Blade has never started a Test under Farrell but has four replacement appearances. He debuted with 20 minutes against the US back in 2021 and came on against Italy in a World Cup warm-up match in 2023.
His biggest appearance so far was helping Ireland home in their win over the Springboks in Durban in 2024 when Gibson-Park and Casey were both injured. Blade came on alongside Ciarán Frawley with 21 minutes to go and did well.
Blade was part of last autumn’s Ireland squad and he came off the bench in the home win over Japan for the final quarter. So at this stage, the Connacht man has played about 95 minutes of Test rugby.
Blade has been sidelined with injury himself in recent weeks. Having come off during the western province’s defeat away to the Dragons on 20 December, Blade hasn’t featured since, so Farrell will have been keeping a close eye on that injury situation already.
After making a big impact in Connacht last season, 24-year-old Murphy got his Ireland debut off the bench last summer against Georgia and came on against Portugal a week later for a combined 30 minutes.
Murphy started for the Ireland XV in their win against Spain in November, scoring a try as he combined fluidly with Harry Byrne in the halfbacks.
Ben Murphy started for the Ireland XV in November. Martin Seras Lima / INPHO
Martin Seras Lima / INPHO / INPHO
Although there is competition from Blade and Matthew Devine in Connacht, the pacy Murphy has remained the first-choice at scrum-half with his province and will be hoping to get back into the senior Ireland squad in the coming weeks.
The man who was on the Ireland XV bench in November in Spain is certainly in form.
Nathan Doak, who turned 24 last month, has been central to Ulster’s strong season so far and is already an experienced player. A ball boy at Ravenhill when he was a kid, Doak made his senior Ulster debut having just turned 20 and is now a couple of games off becoming a centurion.
While Doak has long been seen as a controlling, kick-focused type of scrum-half in the Ruan Pienaar mould, he has excelled in the high-tempo, transition-focused approach under Ulster head coach Richie Murphy. So he has a few strings to his bow.
Doak has yet to win a senior Ireland cap. He was called up during the 2024 tour of South Africa following the injuries to Gibson-Park and Casey, so he has been on Farrell’s radar.
Doak started for Ireland A against England A last season and though it was a miserable day for the Irish side in Bristol as they suffered a string of backline injuries, Doak got stuck in.
Doak began to nail down his place as Ulster’s main man last season, even with John Cooney still in the province at that stage, and he has handled his leading role impressively this season.
Cooney and Kieran Marmion are the two other scrum-halves capped by Ireland during the Farrell era, but the former is now with Brive in France and the latter is with Bristol in England, playing some of the best rugby of his career.
Leinster’s 22-year-old Fintan Gunne was the third scrum-half named in the Ireland XV squad back in November. He was a standout performer for the Ireland U20s in 2023, playing alongside the likes of Sam Prendergast, Paddy McCarthy, Gus McCarthy, and Hugh Gavin as they reached the World Championship final.
But Gunne hasn’t been able to push past the experienced Luke McGrath in Leinster’s pecking order, with Gibson-Park on top of that list too.
Leinster's Fintan Gunne. Andrew Conan / INPHO
Andrew Conan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland have also had a closer look at Connacht’s Devine, Munster’s Ethan Coughlan, and Leinster man Cormac Foley in Emerging Ireland or Ireland A squads in recent years but none of them are yet leading lights for their provinces.
Ronan O’Gara wanted to bring the mercurial Devine to La Rochelle last summer but he remained in Connacht. The 23-year-old is now seemingly drawing interest from Ulster and Munster ahead of next season, so it will be intriguing to see how his career develops.
Devine has struggled to get starts for Connacht and, frustratingly, when he was handed the number nine shirt against Leinster two weekends ago, he was forced off injured after just 10 minutes.
It was always going to be interesting to see who Farrell picked at scrum-half for this Six Nations behind Gibson-Park and Casey, but with the latter now a doubt, the Ireland boss may have to choose two.
And one of them might need to step up onto the bench for the visit to the Stade de France on 5 February.
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Who could step up at scrum-half for Ireland in the Six Nations?
JUST BEFORE TOM Farrell scored the try that took Munster back in front in Toulon, Craig Casey carried into contact with Jérémy Sinzelle.
As play continued, with Dan Kelly and Alex Nankivell combining to tee up Farrell, the watching Ireland head coach Andy Farrell probably noticed Casey still hunched over in the same spot where he had been tackled, clutching at his left shoulder.
As Munster fans then celebrated Jack Crowley’s successful conversion to leave Munster in the lead with seven minutes left, there was a brief TV shot of Casey leaving the pitch in clear pain.
This was a clear cause for concern for Ireland boss Farrell.
Munster boss Clayton McMillan confirmed post-match that Casey’s issue was “reasonably serious” and that he would go for a scan, which is never encouraging news.
Casey’s injury is obviously tough for Munster, particularly as substitute scrum-half Paddy Patterson suffered a head injury during the warm-up in Toulon and was replaced by Ethan Coughlan.
But Casey also becomes a doubt for Ireland’s Six Nations opener against France in three-and-a-half weeks in Paris. It would be another hard blow for Casey when it comes to Ireland if he were ruled out.
He suffered a bad head injury when he got a big start against South Africa in the summer of 2024, ruling him out of the second Test against the Springboks, while a badly-timed knee injury meant he missed all of last year’s Six Nations.
The Munster man was nailed on to be on the Irish bench for the upcoming game in Paris, offering strong support for first-choice scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
It would be cruel for Casey if he were to miss even part of this Six Nations. Despite Gibson-Park’s importance to Ireland, Casey has become an increasingly prominent figure in Farrell’s set-up. He captained the Irish tour of Georgia and Portugal last summer.
So the hope is that the scan on his injury has shown that things aren’t as bad as initially feared.
There has been clear daylight between Casey and the rest of the Irish contenders at scrum-half since the retirement of Conor Murray at the end of last season, but Farrell may have to have another good look now, depending on the prognosis for Casey.
The only two other scrum-halves capped by Farrell during this World Cup cycle are Connacht duo Caolin Blade and Ben Murphy.
31-year-old Blade has never started a Test under Farrell but has four replacement appearances. He debuted with 20 minutes against the US back in 2021 and came on against Italy in a World Cup warm-up match in 2023.
His biggest appearance so far was helping Ireland home in their win over the Springboks in Durban in 2024 when Gibson-Park and Casey were both injured. Blade came on alongside Ciarán Frawley with 21 minutes to go and did well.
Blade was part of last autumn’s Ireland squad and he came off the bench in the home win over Japan for the final quarter. So at this stage, the Connacht man has played about 95 minutes of Test rugby.
Blade has been sidelined with injury himself in recent weeks. Having come off during the western province’s defeat away to the Dragons on 20 December, Blade hasn’t featured since, so Farrell will have been keeping a close eye on that injury situation already.
After making a big impact in Connacht last season, 24-year-old Murphy got his Ireland debut off the bench last summer against Georgia and came on against Portugal a week later for a combined 30 minutes.
Murphy started for the Ireland XV in their win against Spain in November, scoring a try as he combined fluidly with Harry Byrne in the halfbacks.
Although there is competition from Blade and Matthew Devine in Connacht, the pacy Murphy has remained the first-choice at scrum-half with his province and will be hoping to get back into the senior Ireland squad in the coming weeks.
The man who was on the Ireland XV bench in November in Spain is certainly in form.
Nathan Doak, who turned 24 last month, has been central to Ulster’s strong season so far and is already an experienced player. A ball boy at Ravenhill when he was a kid, Doak made his senior Ulster debut having just turned 20 and is now a couple of games off becoming a centurion.
While Doak has long been seen as a controlling, kick-focused type of scrum-half in the Ruan Pienaar mould, he has excelled in the high-tempo, transition-focused approach under Ulster head coach Richie Murphy. So he has a few strings to his bow.
Doak has yet to win a senior Ireland cap. He was called up during the 2024 tour of South Africa following the injuries to Gibson-Park and Casey, so he has been on Farrell’s radar.
Doak started for Ireland A against England A last season and though it was a miserable day for the Irish side in Bristol as they suffered a string of backline injuries, Doak got stuck in.
Doak began to nail down his place as Ulster’s main man last season, even with John Cooney still in the province at that stage, and he has handled his leading role impressively this season.
Cooney and Kieran Marmion are the two other scrum-halves capped by Ireland during the Farrell era, but the former is now with Brive in France and the latter is with Bristol in England, playing some of the best rugby of his career.
Leinster’s 22-year-old Fintan Gunne was the third scrum-half named in the Ireland XV squad back in November. He was a standout performer for the Ireland U20s in 2023, playing alongside the likes of Sam Prendergast, Paddy McCarthy, Gus McCarthy, and Hugh Gavin as they reached the World Championship final.
But Gunne hasn’t been able to push past the experienced Luke McGrath in Leinster’s pecking order, with Gibson-Park on top of that list too.
Ireland have also had a closer look at Connacht’s Devine, Munster’s Ethan Coughlan, and Leinster man Cormac Foley in Emerging Ireland or Ireland A squads in recent years but none of them are yet leading lights for their provinces.
Ronan O’Gara wanted to bring the mercurial Devine to La Rochelle last summer but he remained in Connacht. The 23-year-old is now seemingly drawing interest from Ulster and Munster ahead of next season, so it will be intriguing to see how his career develops.
Devine has struggled to get starts for Connacht and, frustratingly, when he was handed the number nine shirt against Leinster two weekends ago, he was forced off injured after just 10 minutes.
It was always going to be interesting to see who Farrell picked at scrum-half for this Six Nations behind Gibson-Park and Casey, but with the latter now a doubt, the Ireland boss may have to choose two.
And one of them might need to step up onto the bench for the visit to the Stade de France on 5 February.
Ireland’s scrum-halves under Andy Farrell
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craig casey depth chart Ireland Scrum Half