THE FEELING THAT Jack Crowley never quite seized control of last November’s meeting with New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium was emphasised on 51 minutes, his unforced spillage popping the balloon inside the stadium and curtailing Ireland’s inroads in the All Blacks’ half.
Crowley was hardly the root cause of Ireland’s yips. His replacement seven minutes later, Ciarán Frawley, the drop-goal-winning hero of Ireland’s previous test in South Africa, endured an even more nightmarish final quarter.
And while it was owing to an over-arching team malfunction — along with ineffectual, uncharacteristically mistimed replacements from the coaches’ box — that Ireland suffered a first home defeat in 19 games, it was the out-half picture which would shift most dramatically.
Easily forgotten is that Crowley was among Ireland’s better performers against Argentina a week later, opening the scoring with a try and landing an early drop-goal which proved crucial to the final score of 22-19. But by the end of November, Ireland had moved away from the Cork man at 10, Sam Prendergast’s baptism of fire against Australia proving sufficiently promising that the Leinster youngster was backed as the starter through the following Six Nations.
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Jack Crowley in action against New Zealand in 2024. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
From the ensuing Debate has arisen some revisionism about Crowley’s 2024/25, which is often presented as a season in which he plateaued or even regressed. In reality, his eye-catching early-season form this time around, and his reinstatement this week as Ireland’s starting 10, are pretty much on schedule for a 25-year-old out-half entering just his fifth full season of big-boy rugby.
Johnny Sexton was five months older than Crowley is now when he lost his place to a 34-year-old Ronan O’Gara for a World Cup quarter-final — which is to say that player development is rarely linear. It’s answerable to all kinds of external stimulants, including the whims of others. It invariably happens in fits and starts, and Crowley is plainly on an upswing.
While he was, by his own admission, unhappy with some of his performances over the last 12 months, the Munster man played well in the vast majority of his ‘big’ games for province and country in the back-half of last season. Even as far back as February, he gave Ireland a dig-out off the bench in their Six Nations opener against England, with opposition head coach Steve Borthwick among those who credited the Innishannon man for righting the Irish course after a mixed Six Nations debut for Prendergast at the Aviva. Crowley was later imperious for Munster in what, was, to that point, their biggest game of the season, away to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup. By the time Munster reached their URC quarter-final in Durban against the Sharks, the former Bandon Grammar student was playing full-on hero ball, his kicking from hand and tee affected for weeks by an undisclosed rib injury but his performances otherwise nearing their previous peak.
To misquote LL Cool J, don’t call it a comeback: Jack Crowley has been tipping away nicely for months.
Crowley celebrating Munster's recent win against Leinster at Croke Park. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
There has been one concentrated change in his game, though, since the summer. Sam Prendergast’s stuttering start to the new season is a contributing factor to Ireland’s switch at 10 this evening, yes. But Crowley has notably trimmed the fat from his game to the extent that Farrell again trusts him with the keys to Ireland’s attack. As such, things have swung full circle 12 months after some of that trust was lost.
Hero-ball was actually part of the perceived issue: whereas Prendergast is a fairly deferential facilitator within either Leinster or Ireland’s attacking system, Crowley’s coaches — including those at Munster — have sometimes found him guilty of taking too much artistic licence with their script. At national level, Farrell came to prefer Prendergast’s general adherence to the gameplan, as well as his instinct for picking the right moments in which to improvise.
It’s an area of his game over which Crowley has ruminated for months. That his performances have routinely since been described as ‘mature’ is no coincidence.
Even a couple of Crowley’s errors during Munster’s victory over Leinster last month happened strictly within his side’s attacking framework: two blocked-down crossfield-kick attempts in the first quarter at Croke Park might previously have driven mad those in the Munster coaching box, but this was an occasion on which Crowley was acting on orders — and he continued to follow them. Undeterred by the two previous bouts of pinball off his boot, the out-half soon dropped a dime into the stride of Thaakir Abrahams, whose burst down the left edge eventually yielded Munster’s first try.
Crowley’s man-of-the-match award against Leinster was gratuitous unless Tadhg Beirne was given a separate God-of-the-match gong unbeknownst to us, but the Munster out-half demonstrated his full value in Dublin: he made 18 tackles to complement an attacking performance which struck a fine balance between fun and function.
Crowley’s extracurricular work through the summer with Munster’s return-to-play coach, Gordon Brett, was rightly highlighted after his all-court effort at Croke Park. Let’s face it: it’s also precisely the kind of thing that Andy Farrell loves, and learning how to play the man upstairs is a key step towards career advancement for us all.
Jack Crowley kicking at Soldier Field. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
It will doubtless already have played on Crowley’s mind that almost a year ago today, against the same opposition in black, his national-team boss developed doubts about his dependability. It’s bound to have conjured some additional internal pressure. But his regaining of the jersey will surely bring with it a kind of liberating conviction in Crowley, too, that if worst comes to worst in Chicago or beyond, he knows the road back.
Sam Prendergast, meanwhile, finds himself changing his first flat tyre. His supposed decline in form, much like Crowley’s last season, has been exaggerated to feed the content machine online. Rational people — including Crowley and Prendergast themselves, who are fond of each other in real life — know that there will be plenty more twists and turns in Ireland’s out-half race.
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Prendergast is a 22-year-old with only two full seasons of senior rugby under his belt. He has any number of fits and starts to come.
Already clear from the early throes of this season is that the Leinster man has put work into his defensive application and technique. He’ll have a role to play off the bench in Chicago, and it won’t be long before he clicks back into gear in a Leinster attack which will have long overcome its stunted pre-season by Champions Cup time.
Crowley, though, is worthy of his shot at Soldier Field. The idea of his translating his refined provincial performances into the test shirt is an exciting prospect in its own right.
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Don't call it a comeback: Jack Crowley’s testing year comes full circle with All Blacks rerun
THE FEELING THAT Jack Crowley never quite seized control of last November’s meeting with New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium was emphasised on 51 minutes, his unforced spillage popping the balloon inside the stadium and curtailing Ireland’s inroads in the All Blacks’ half.
Crowley was hardly the root cause of Ireland’s yips. His replacement seven minutes later, Ciarán Frawley, the drop-goal-winning hero of Ireland’s previous test in South Africa, endured an even more nightmarish final quarter.
And while it was owing to an over-arching team malfunction — along with ineffectual, uncharacteristically mistimed replacements from the coaches’ box — that Ireland suffered a first home defeat in 19 games, it was the out-half picture which would shift most dramatically.
Easily forgotten is that Crowley was among Ireland’s better performers against Argentina a week later, opening the scoring with a try and landing an early drop-goal which proved crucial to the final score of 22-19. But by the end of November, Ireland had moved away from the Cork man at 10, Sam Prendergast’s baptism of fire against Australia proving sufficiently promising that the Leinster youngster was backed as the starter through the following Six Nations.
From the ensuing Debate has arisen some revisionism about Crowley’s 2024/25, which is often presented as a season in which he plateaued or even regressed. In reality, his eye-catching early-season form this time around, and his reinstatement this week as Ireland’s starting 10, are pretty much on schedule for a 25-year-old out-half entering just his fifth full season of big-boy rugby.
Johnny Sexton was five months older than Crowley is now when he lost his place to a 34-year-old Ronan O’Gara for a World Cup quarter-final — which is to say that player development is rarely linear. It’s answerable to all kinds of external stimulants, including the whims of others. It invariably happens in fits and starts, and Crowley is plainly on an upswing.
While he was, by his own admission, unhappy with some of his performances over the last 12 months, the Munster man played well in the vast majority of his ‘big’ games for province and country in the back-half of last season. Even as far back as February, he gave Ireland a dig-out off the bench in their Six Nations opener against England, with opposition head coach Steve Borthwick among those who credited the Innishannon man for righting the Irish course after a mixed Six Nations debut for Prendergast at the Aviva. Crowley was later imperious for Munster in what, was, to that point, their biggest game of the season, away to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup. By the time Munster reached their URC quarter-final in Durban against the Sharks, the former Bandon Grammar student was playing full-on hero ball, his kicking from hand and tee affected for weeks by an undisclosed rib injury but his performances otherwise nearing their previous peak.
To misquote LL Cool J, don’t call it a comeback: Jack Crowley has been tipping away nicely for months.
There has been one concentrated change in his game, though, since the summer. Sam Prendergast’s stuttering start to the new season is a contributing factor to Ireland’s switch at 10 this evening, yes. But Crowley has notably trimmed the fat from his game to the extent that Farrell again trusts him with the keys to Ireland’s attack. As such, things have swung full circle 12 months after some of that trust was lost.
Hero-ball was actually part of the perceived issue: whereas Prendergast is a fairly deferential facilitator within either Leinster or Ireland’s attacking system, Crowley’s coaches — including those at Munster — have sometimes found him guilty of taking too much artistic licence with their script. At national level, Farrell came to prefer Prendergast’s general adherence to the gameplan, as well as his instinct for picking the right moments in which to improvise.
It’s an area of his game over which Crowley has ruminated for months. That his performances have routinely since been described as ‘mature’ is no coincidence.
Even a couple of Crowley’s errors during Munster’s victory over Leinster last month happened strictly within his side’s attacking framework: two blocked-down crossfield-kick attempts in the first quarter at Croke Park might previously have driven mad those in the Munster coaching box, but this was an occasion on which Crowley was acting on orders — and he continued to follow them. Undeterred by the two previous bouts of pinball off his boot, the out-half soon dropped a dime into the stride of Thaakir Abrahams, whose burst down the left edge eventually yielded Munster’s first try.
Crowley’s man-of-the-match award against Leinster was gratuitous unless Tadhg Beirne was given a separate God-of-the-match gong unbeknownst to us, but the Munster out-half demonstrated his full value in Dublin: he made 18 tackles to complement an attacking performance which struck a fine balance between fun and function.
Crowley’s extracurricular work through the summer with Munster’s return-to-play coach, Gordon Brett, was rightly highlighted after his all-court effort at Croke Park. Let’s face it: it’s also precisely the kind of thing that Andy Farrell loves, and learning how to play the man upstairs is a key step towards career advancement for us all.
It will doubtless already have played on Crowley’s mind that almost a year ago today, against the same opposition in black, his national-team boss developed doubts about his dependability. It’s bound to have conjured some additional internal pressure. But his regaining of the jersey will surely bring with it a kind of liberating conviction in Crowley, too, that if worst comes to worst in Chicago or beyond, he knows the road back.
Sam Prendergast, meanwhile, finds himself changing his first flat tyre. His supposed decline in form, much like Crowley’s last season, has been exaggerated to feed the content machine online. Rational people — including Crowley and Prendergast themselves, who are fond of each other in real life — know that there will be plenty more twists and turns in Ireland’s out-half race.
Prendergast is a 22-year-old with only two full seasons of senior rugby under his belt. He has any number of fits and starts to come.
Already clear from the early throes of this season is that the Leinster man has put work into his defensive application and technique. He’ll have a role to play off the bench in Chicago, and it won’t be long before he clicks back into gear in a Leinster attack which will have long overcome its stunted pre-season by Champions Cup time.
Crowley, though, is worthy of his shot at Soldier Field. The idea of his translating his refined provincial performances into the test shirt is an exciting prospect in its own right.
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Fits and starts Rugby