Ronan O’Gara: Making an (unsuccessful) play for Munster starlet Jack Crowley
REMAINING RED: Munster prospect Jack Crowley has turned down the chance to play under Ronan O'Gara at La Rochelle. "He is backing himself to make it at Munster. He is doing whatever he can to get what he wants," O'Gara says. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson
IN the matter of Munster and Irish rugby, it wouldn’t be unfair or unreasonable to say I have retained a certain interest in the goings-on at No 10.
As it pertains to Munster, that interest has traversed the spectrum from player to fan to coach to potential recruiter.
The out-half situation in my home province is an intriguing study in the career cycle of a professional sportsperson. There are four candidates for the jersey and none can truly say he is precisely where he wants to be.
All being normal, the preferred option is Joey Carbery, who has suffered the same rotten ill-luck with injury that bedevilled the now departed Tyler Bleyendaal.
There is little doubt he has the goods to establish himself at European and test level, but until we know, well, we don’t know.
In Carbery’s stead, JJ Hanrahan has been offered the opportunity to make the 10 jersey his own in Munster. There have been moments he looked poised to do just that, but there’s not been enough of them. He has definitely upped his consistency but there remains that nagging suspicion with JJ that he can’t fully close the door on others who want to take his spot.
Then there’s the Ben Healy situation, which had the Munster faithful all aflutter at the thought of the Tipp man heading off to Glasgow. Now that the Warriors have signed Worcester’s Duncan Weir, that concern seems to have been allayed, notwithstanding the delay in tieing him down to a new provincial contract.
From what I have seen of Healy, his decision-making is at an elevated level and he has a good boot on him. More than that, it’s too early to say.
And then there’s Jack Crowley, who turned 21 this week, and who may turn out to be the best of the lot.
He has already turned heads with his displays from the boot and with ball in hand for the Ireland U20s. Crowley may be fourth in line at the moment, but things move quickly when you least expect them. Patience is a virtue in these situations and Jack is happy to bide his time and make his mark with Munster.
I know all this because he has turned down the chance to sign for La Rochelle, with whom I am familiar.
Am I disappointed? Bloody right I am. This boy is a talent.
It’s been well documented here and elsewhere how Donal Lenihan put us together for a chat before an World Cup preview event in 2019.
He was only out of Leaving Cert, but I liked him. He was confident and positive without being arrogant. I liked his judgement values. I have watched him develop quickly over the last year and a half and he has a really good future ahead of him if he continues to make good judgements and stays injury-free. He got minutes for Munster in Belfast recently, kicked some points, and got a taste for it. There’s so much more to come.
Which is why La Rochelle put together a proposition to bring him to France. Clearly his progress at Munster is somewhat retarded by the afore-mentioned 10s, and we would like to think there was Top 14 game-time for him here next season.
The fitness of Joey Carbery is the key lever for who does what ahead of the next World Cup, but Munster aren’t stupid; they must know what they have on their hands.
Even at a global level, rugby is a small community. A short while back I wrote here about our bus trip to Agen. It’s a proud club going through a tough time in the Top 14 but a change in management has brought about an improvement in their form, if not results as yet.
The new man in charge is Regis Sonnes, formerly of Bandon Rugby Club.
The same Regis who coached Jack Crowley for school and club in west Cork. Guess the topic of conversation before our game on January 2? Not surprisingly, Sonnes rates Crowley very highly too, and has done since his early teens.
He will have a good smile to himself when he hears the Cork man has turned down the Cork man!
Fair play to him for his single-mindedness. I thought La Rochelle had a good shot at Jack and I think the move would have been a good one for both parties.
He would love it here, the rugby, the life, and he would prosper. But he has now decided to stick with the team he loves and grew up supporting. He is backing himself to make it at Munster. He is doing whatever he can to get what he wants.
The man in possession of the Munster 10 shirt, Hanrahan, did very little wrong in his hour at the Sportsground last Saturday night. Ben Healy got the last 20, and for 75 minutes, Munster were well out there in front of Connacht. That the win was almost coughed up in a crazy last ten minutes says a lot, but more about the hosts than the winners.
Andy Friend said after that his side made bad, bad decisions in the decisive moments (I added the extra ‘bad’) with the clock in the red. Once they had a solid scrum it was harder not to score than score and claim an unlikely win. How they managed to go right off the pick and go I don’t know.
That’s the composure you require from a half back when it’s needed most. That’s your Dan Carter, that’s your Matt Dawson in his prime — players who exuded huge control around the base of scrums.
We are all experts on the couch, seeing all the spaces outside Keith Earls on the Munster right wing. But is there another question there regarding the potential winning conversion playing in the heads of the Connacht forwards at that moment.
Did they want it near the posts to make sure for Jack Carty? Was that subconsciously in their heads? Hopefully not, because their job is to score the five, and then back the kicker, even if it’s from the touchline. Remember Carty had just converted a difficult position shortly before.
Where are Connacht? Beaten at home by Ulster, they then they go to the RDS, and put on an unbelievable display of rugby to beat Leinster before returning to their own fortress to get schooled for 75 minutes against Munster — before nearly digging the game out of the fire in added time.
Figure that out mentally for me, please.
Crowley's decision wasn’t the only frustration this past week. Three positive Covid cases at the club nixed our visit to Racing 92 on Sunday.
By the time the results of Monday’s second raft of tests — over 150 of them in all around the club — came through Tuesday, we had five professionals and 12 Academy players test positive. An immediate shutdown. We had another round of testing yesterday and I am hoping as you read this that the players who tested negative are back training today.
While we spend a career reacting to situations on the pitch, it is still unsettling to have no control and little shape over your day-to-day schedule. Following this welcome weekend off — an occasional one is nice — we are wall-to-wall for the next five… in theory.
After entertaining Bayonne and Toulouse, we are away to Racing and Toulon and then home to Stade Francais. The Racing game coincides with the scheduled start of the Six Nations.
The financial and scheduling imperatives of the tournament make it less likely that it will fall victim to the raging pandemic, so we will play minus our French quartet — Racing will make do without even more internationals, I assume.
However, the progress of the Top 14 is paramount here, its wellbeing self-evident in the strong stance taken by the French Sports ministry in relation to the postponement of the third and fourth rounds of the Champions Cup.
Britain and Ireland are in a bad place now with the virus. For the Six Nations, a squad bubble will be a lot easier to maintain. Hotel, training ground, stadium, airport, home.
That the tournament will take place without fans is a frustration but the financial predicaments of the respective unions make it a secondary consideration at this time.
The debate surrounding the proposed Lions tour to South Africa this summer is somewhat different. Like so many others who have played and been part of the tradition, I am very strongly on the side of those who see the Lions as tourists and for whom a massive fanbase is an integral part of the tour experience.
It’s hugely important too to preserve and foster the culture of going on tour with the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and creating bonds and friendships for life with, for example, a Mike Phillips.
To have such a special time with a rival you don’t like for the previous three and a half years, and then discover what a joy his company is, frames an experience you can only have when thrust into an environment away from home, where you don’t know your arse from your elbow. It’s a brilliant concept.
You put that test series in Twickenham for instance, and the English players are in their normal test weekend routine. Denied the magic of the Lions on tour. For the sake of 12 months, would we really want the Lions going to South Africa without supporters?
The Lions test experience is in packed stadiums where the fans make it a truly visceral experience.
World champions South Africa are a proper team but it’s their support that makes it properly intimidating and that’s where you want to be tested.
In my case, it’s a test I failed.
