MOST OF THE IRELAND players had left the pitch as a small cheer rose in a far corner of the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Jack Crowley, one of three Test debutants in the 35-17 defeat of Fiji, skipped over the fencing at the end of the pitch to greet some familiar faces.
“My family, my uncle and aunty,” Crowley explained.
“To see them there was special. It hasn’t sunk in. It will probably be tomorrow (Sunday) when I am sitting around with my family and friends. When you are in the game you are just trying to prepare for the performance.”
It’s understandably a lot to take in for Crowley. The 22-year-old admits that Test caps weren’t quite on his radar at the start of the season, with furthering his case at Munster higher on the list of priorities. The out-half has just 19 Munster caps to his name but has raced up the international pecking order, with injuries to both Harry Byrne and Ciarán Frawley opening a path into the senior squad.
Crowley got a taste of what to expect as he ran the kicking tee in the win over the Springboks before being promoted to the matchday 23 for the Fiji game. With Joey Carbery forced off with a head injury after 46 minutes, Crowley was afforded a good stretch to showcase his talents.
“Even last week I was asking myself what I was doing here on Saturday running the tee to Johnny and experiencing the whole thing,” he continues.
“It was mind-blowing and I didn’t think in a million years I was going to be there and I was really delighted to be given another week in camp. I didn’t know how they operate on Test week and it was probably a pinch-me moment.
“To see Joey coming off, you don’t want to see that no matter who it is. Joey has been so good to me, back in Munster and up here as well, a proper mentor. Fortunate that I got on, but unfortunate in those circumstances that Joey had to come off.”
Pre-game nerves?
“Not really. I wasn’t expecting to be on that (amount of) time but, as I said, you try and normalise things as much as possible because when you are coming on to the pitch you don’t want to allow your nerves to affect the rest of your teammates.
I know it’s a special day when you are making your debut and that but you still have to go out and perform, and perform for the lads inside and outside you, so try and do that as much as possible and not allow the occasion to affect the way I’m playing or thinking.”
It was a promising start to his Test career. The Munster player looked confident and calm in possession, throwing a series of sharp passes, kicking two from two off the tee while also looking solid in defence.
There were some black marks too. Crowley will have been disappointed to see a kick behind bounce out on the full, a bad error, while he also has to take some of the responsibility for Ireland’s struggles in attack in what was a disjointed, scrappy team performance in a game that many will be happy to forget.
Overall, his head coach was pleased.
“I thought he was good,” Farrell said. “He looked like he’d a bit of presence out there. He’s certainly not a shrinking violet. He backs himself.
“His first kick into the corner, straight into the five metre, was a big test for him for his character and he nailed that. He had one that went dead that was brought back, but he was in the game, you know? He was next-moment focused. His communication is very good. It’s a good start for him.”
An encouraging display from a young player who still has plenty of room for growth.
“I’m still trying to find my way in Munster and that was my number one aim (this season),” Crowley added. “I definitely wanted to be on that Emerging Ireland tour to try get exposed to the (Ireland) coaching staff.
They were really my aims, I wasn’t looking too far ahead, like I said, about competitions further down the line. I was really staying focussed on the week ahead, the next two weeks or whatever, because if I looked too far ahead I would probably have got carried away. And it was just keeping my focus to things that were quite attainable.”
Ireland close out their November series when the Wallabies come to town on Saturday, and given the nature of the performance against Fiji, Farrell will surely revert to a more familiar selection for the final game of this international window.
With Carbery now set to enter the return to play protocols, Crowley could be one of the lucky few to keep their place in the squad.
“I think we created opportunities (against Fiji) when we were down in their 22 quite a bit and to give away penalties or things that were under our control and not be quite as accurate, there is probably a disappointment but we will review that.
“That last 10 minutes there were a few opportunities that we would like to take and the game got a bit scrappy and that was stuff under our control.
“Australia are going to be a massive test after losing to Italy. They are going to come all guns blazing for Dublin next Saturday so we’re happy with the result but not the performance.”
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