WITH JUST 57 seconds on the clock, Jack Crowley has a chance to put Munster into a fine attacking position down in the Castres 22.
He eyes the right corner with his penalty kick to touch as the Munster forwards make a lineout call and mentally prepare themselves for what should be the first set-piece.
But Crowley doesn’t connect with his line kick at all, the ball skidding low into the Castres 22 and landing a good seven metres infield, giving the French side a chance to clear their line, chase upfield, and win a breakdown penalty that they kick into Munster’s 22.
It’s a big swing moment early in the game and Crowley’s night ends in a similar fashion.
In the 80th minute, Munster win a penalty a couple of metres inside their own half, trailing 16-14. Crowley discusses the options with captain Tadhg Beirne and clearly feels he doesn’t have the distance to land a penalty shot at goal. Centre Rory Scannell isn’t asked to take on the long-range effort either.
With 80:17 on the clock, Crowley steals a few metres into the Castres half and launches his line kick down the left. He nearly finds touch 10 metres out from the tryline but has to watch in agony as Castres wing Geoffrey Palis cleverly leaps from outside the field, catches the ball, and lands infield before launching it into the stand. Game over.
These moments are snapshots of Crowley’s night as the Munster out-half endured a frustrating outing in Stade Pierre Fabre, where he started a Champions Cup game for the first time ever back in 2022. Munster won that day.
Crowley is still only 24 but already knows that being an out-half means constantly being in the limelight. The number 10′s mistakes are always magnified.
He is a tough character and will be eager to get back on the pitch as soon as possible to put things right and get back on track for his province.
“You’d back Jack to bounce back from anything,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello after the defeat in Castres.
Crowley had a tough night in Castres. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“He’s a quality player, a quality bloke, hugely resilient as we’ve seen repeatedly in the past. Jack will be in the mix over the next couple of weeks, he’ll have to get a rest at some point, but as always we would expect Jack to bounce back.”
Advertisement
Costello said that last-gasp missed touch is part of the game when players like Crowley look for every inch with their kicks.
“Look, as long as he’s being decisive, he commits and he goes for it, and if he misses, he misses, I’d rather that if some miss then they miss going for it,” said Costello.
“It would have put the team in a very good position for a last opportunity. Unfortunately, the kick was outside range and, look, he went for every inch out of that and as long as he was committing to it, we’ll back him.”
Overall, Costello was disappointed with Munster’s performance, which he believes is “a bump in the road” after their wins against the Lions and Stade Français in recent weeks.
The interim boss was disappointed with the sheer number of errors that Munster made, with his sense being that they overplayed in their own half too often but kicked the ball away too soon on a couple of occasions in the Castres half.
They lacked punch in the carry, with Gavin Coombes missed after Munster opted to rotate him out of the matchday 23 as 20-year-old Brian Gleeson got a big start. Coombes was in Castres to do the warm-up with Munster but he didn’t feature as Costello and co. made six changes to their starting XV.
“I suppose a six-day turnaround and travel to France would be the primary reason,” said Costello of that rotation.
“A lot of guys have played back-to-back games and it’s about trusting our squad. Some guys didn’t play the last two games, like John Hodnett came off the bench and was outstanding tonight, came in fresh. And it’s about freshness and it’s about trusting the squad and generating a squad depth.
Gavin Coombes was with Munster in Castres. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“So, wanting to win these games first and foremost but also looking at the block we have of six massive games in a row and we’re not in the position we’d like to be in the URC and it’s very hard to weight one over the other.
“We know there’s Irish players that will come out over the next few weeks so Gavin, for example, playing really well, we’ll freshen him up and come back in again next week.”
Asked how the conversation with Coombes to let him know he wouldn’t be starting went, Costello underlined that Munster need to trust their entire group.
“Everybody wants to play but a big focus for us has been about the squad, trusting the squad, generating genuine competition. Brian had been outstanding in Junior World Cups and Six Nations and he’s waited for his chance. He played two A games, two club games to get ready for this game.
“The same is Evan O’Connell, who played really well but there’s an opportunity to take him out and freshen him up and bring him back in next week when maybe one or two of our internationals might not be available.
“There’s a long season left and this six-game block is particularly attritional so as a squad and as a group of coaches we made the decisions we think are right for now and right for the medium term as well.”
Gleeson played 50 minutes for Munster before being replaced by Jack O’Donoghue and Costello is excited to see more of the Tipperary man in the coming weeks.
“Brian did some things really well and there were some areas that he would have found difficult,” said Costello.
“It was a very, very physical game and it was actually a quick game in that first half. Brian’s got a really bright future and any game like that is a credit to him, what did he learn from it, what did he take from it, and how is he building that into his next performance.
20-year-old Brian Gleeson is a big prospect. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We have a huge amount of confidence in him and he’ll grow from that.”
The scrum was a major area of weakness for Munster as Castres made hay there, earning a string of penalties including what proved to be the game-winning one.
Loosehead prop Dian Bleuler was forced off with a head injury just after the quarter mark, meaning Dave Kilcoyne was asked to go for nearly 60 minutes as he made his first Munster appearance in nearly a year. Kilcoyne limped off with cramp in the closing stages, meaning sub tighthead Oli Jager had to switch over to loosehead.
“They were key, at key times as well,” said Costello. “Dave Kilcoyne and Oli Jager are back from long-term injuries and ideally you’re bringing them on around 60 minutes into the game.
“The early injury to Dian Bleuler really hurt us as well. It was a factor in the game but there were plenty of other elements that were in our control that we didn’t perform in as well as we should have.”
The scrum is one of the fix-ups Munster have this week as they now look towards Friday night’s URC clash in Ulster.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'You’d back Jack to bounce back from anything. He's hugely resilient'
WITH JUST 57 seconds on the clock, Jack Crowley has a chance to put Munster into a fine attacking position down in the Castres 22.
He eyes the right corner with his penalty kick to touch as the Munster forwards make a lineout call and mentally prepare themselves for what should be the first set-piece.
But Crowley doesn’t connect with his line kick at all, the ball skidding low into the Castres 22 and landing a good seven metres infield, giving the French side a chance to clear their line, chase upfield, and win a breakdown penalty that they kick into Munster’s 22.
It’s a big swing moment early in the game and Crowley’s night ends in a similar fashion.
In the 80th minute, Munster win a penalty a couple of metres inside their own half, trailing 16-14. Crowley discusses the options with captain Tadhg Beirne and clearly feels he doesn’t have the distance to land a penalty shot at goal. Centre Rory Scannell isn’t asked to take on the long-range effort either.
With 80:17 on the clock, Crowley steals a few metres into the Castres half and launches his line kick down the left. He nearly finds touch 10 metres out from the tryline but has to watch in agony as Castres wing Geoffrey Palis cleverly leaps from outside the field, catches the ball, and lands infield before launching it into the stand. Game over.
These moments are snapshots of Crowley’s night as the Munster out-half endured a frustrating outing in Stade Pierre Fabre, where he started a Champions Cup game for the first time ever back in 2022. Munster won that day.
Crowley is still only 24 but already knows that being an out-half means constantly being in the limelight. The number 10′s mistakes are always magnified.
He is a tough character and will be eager to get back on the pitch as soon as possible to put things right and get back on track for his province.
“You’d back Jack to bounce back from anything,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello after the defeat in Castres.
“He’s a quality player, a quality bloke, hugely resilient as we’ve seen repeatedly in the past. Jack will be in the mix over the next couple of weeks, he’ll have to get a rest at some point, but as always we would expect Jack to bounce back.”
Costello said that last-gasp missed touch is part of the game when players like Crowley look for every inch with their kicks.
“Look, as long as he’s being decisive, he commits and he goes for it, and if he misses, he misses, I’d rather that if some miss then they miss going for it,” said Costello.
“It would have put the team in a very good position for a last opportunity. Unfortunately, the kick was outside range and, look, he went for every inch out of that and as long as he was committing to it, we’ll back him.”
Overall, Costello was disappointed with Munster’s performance, which he believes is “a bump in the road” after their wins against the Lions and Stade Français in recent weeks.
The interim boss was disappointed with the sheer number of errors that Munster made, with his sense being that they overplayed in their own half too often but kicked the ball away too soon on a couple of occasions in the Castres half.
They lacked punch in the carry, with Gavin Coombes missed after Munster opted to rotate him out of the matchday 23 as 20-year-old Brian Gleeson got a big start. Coombes was in Castres to do the warm-up with Munster but he didn’t feature as Costello and co. made six changes to their starting XV.
“I suppose a six-day turnaround and travel to France would be the primary reason,” said Costello of that rotation.
“A lot of guys have played back-to-back games and it’s about trusting our squad. Some guys didn’t play the last two games, like John Hodnett came off the bench and was outstanding tonight, came in fresh. And it’s about freshness and it’s about trusting the squad and generating a squad depth.
“So, wanting to win these games first and foremost but also looking at the block we have of six massive games in a row and we’re not in the position we’d like to be in the URC and it’s very hard to weight one over the other.
“We know there’s Irish players that will come out over the next few weeks so Gavin, for example, playing really well, we’ll freshen him up and come back in again next week.”
Asked how the conversation with Coombes to let him know he wouldn’t be starting went, Costello underlined that Munster need to trust their entire group.
“Everybody wants to play but a big focus for us has been about the squad, trusting the squad, generating genuine competition. Brian had been outstanding in Junior World Cups and Six Nations and he’s waited for his chance. He played two A games, two club games to get ready for this game.
“The same is Evan O’Connell, who played really well but there’s an opportunity to take him out and freshen him up and bring him back in next week when maybe one or two of our internationals might not be available.
“There’s a long season left and this six-game block is particularly attritional so as a squad and as a group of coaches we made the decisions we think are right for now and right for the medium term as well.”
Gleeson played 50 minutes for Munster before being replaced by Jack O’Donoghue and Costello is excited to see more of the Tipperary man in the coming weeks.
“Brian did some things really well and there were some areas that he would have found difficult,” said Costello.
“It was a very, very physical game and it was actually a quick game in that first half. Brian’s got a really bright future and any game like that is a credit to him, what did he learn from it, what did he take from it, and how is he building that into his next performance.
“We have a huge amount of confidence in him and he’ll grow from that.”
The scrum was a major area of weakness for Munster as Castres made hay there, earning a string of penalties including what proved to be the game-winning one.
Loosehead prop Dian Bleuler was forced off with a head injury just after the quarter mark, meaning Dave Kilcoyne was asked to go for nearly 60 minutes as he made his first Munster appearance in nearly a year. Kilcoyne limped off with cramp in the closing stages, meaning sub tighthead Oli Jager had to switch over to loosehead.
“They were key, at key times as well,” said Costello. “Dave Kilcoyne and Oli Jager are back from long-term injuries and ideally you’re bringing them on around 60 minutes into the game.
“The early injury to Dian Bleuler really hurt us as well. It was a factor in the game but there were plenty of other elements that were in our control that we didn’t perform in as well as we should have.”
The scrum is one of the fix-ups Munster have this week as they now look towards Friday night’s URC clash in Ulster.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Ireland jack crowley Munster Number 10 out-half