CRAIG CASEY MAKES no effort to hide either his competitive nature or his natural confidence.
The commanding Munster scrum-half, who has enjoyed an impressive season with both club and country, admits his time with Ireland during this year’s Six Nations “didn’t go the way that I wanted it.”
The short of it is that the 22-year-old, who debuted off the bench against Italy in February, was hungry for more.
“Camp was unreal,” Casey says. “I would have liked to have been involved in a few more games obviously because of how competitive I am. It didn’t go the way that I wanted it really, but to get the cap was class.
“Being around such high quality players, you see different perspectives on the game. You go into a winning environment and you have to learn there.
The biggest thing I took from it is how quick you have to make decisions on the international stage, even at training. It’s so much quicker than what you would think. That’s the biggest step up, playing quickly but making the right decision at the right time.
Casey appears to have made a good impression and left the camp with clear notes on where he can sharpen up.
“Honing in on the fact that every decision that you make in training has to be like it was in a game,” he continues. “Going into training thinking these are match scenarios and taking that into the game at the weekend.
“You hone in on the individual skills like my kicking game. That’s probably been my biggest work-on since school. Probably honing in on that and then just playing the game that I play – high tempo, crisp passing.”
Casey has just 17 minutes of Test rugby to his name but says he already feels at ease in the Ireland set-up.
“They just want you to be yourself. You’re in camp for a reason and they want you there for that particular reason. So, it’s just being yourself.
“Even after the first week I was a lot more comfortable in there. It was brilliant to be involved but then you get comfortable and you want to push on.
“So (I’ll) definitely take the experience through to the summer, please God, and push on from there.”
The Ardscoil Rís man has started nine games for Munster this season and featured a further seven times off the bench, but only has a handful of games left before attention can turn to those summer Tests against Japan and the USA.
The province are well placed in the Rainbow Cup following comprehensive defeats of Leinster and Ulster, and a home game against Connacht on Friday looks a strong opportunity to keep that 100% record intact.
For Casey, there is a family link to the fixture, with his uncle Mossy Lawler recently named as Connacht’s new attack coach.
“Obviously I’m delighted for him. It was the natural progression that he has taken. I think he went into the Connacht Academy about five years ago. He’s coached Irish underage teams so I think it’s class to see that he’s going up to be a pro coach. I think it’s what he’s dreamed of since he retired.
“I know how dedicated he is, so Connacht will have a lot of dedication put into it, a lot of hard work so I don’t think he can be faulted on that.
“And then he likes to play good rugby and we will see that again with Connacht. We know that they play good rugby already so he’ll build on that I think.”
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