Craig Casey: 'I watch back the game three or four times. It’s probably a bit mad but I’m obsessed, so it has to be done'

Sat, 30 Jan, 2021 - 07:00

Simon Lewis

When you are six years old and you hear you had better be improving your passing off both hands, it is little wonder Craig Casey became the rugby obsessive he is.

No surprise either then, that Munster’s rising scrum-half star has been elevated to an Ireland Six Nations squad three months before his 22nd birthday.

Whether or not a Test debut follows in the coming weeks, Casey has reaped the rewards of a brilliant start to life as a professional player and the diligent approach he describes as “a bit mad” but others believe is the mark of not just talent but the dedication to push himself towards becoming a permanent fixture for province and country.

It has already made a significant impression on Munster’s coaching staff and Casey’s selection as one of three number nines in the Test squad alongside provincial and national-team top dog Conor Murray and Leinster’s Jamison Gibson-Park, and ahead of far more proven players such as John Cooney, Kieran Marmion, and Luke McGrath endorses the view held widely at the High Performance Centre in Limerick.

Yet that talent and commitment to his craft as a scrum-half was forged at other institutions in the city, on Shannon RFC’s pitches at Coonagh and at Ardscoil Rís, the school that now has three alumni in the Irish camp, with Dave Kilcoyne back in the fold following injury and its most famous son Paul O’Connell the newly-appointed forwards coach.

Shannon was where it started, with Casey’s father Ger a senior coach when the famous club won its ninth and most recent AIL title in 2009 and the young scrum-half, whose uncle is former Munster back Mossy Lawler, was exposed not just to the rudiments of the game but the camaraderie of a successful senior side.

“There was no minding themselves,” Casey recalled yesterday, two days into Ireland camp. “I’ve been in plenty of dressing rooms when I was younger with them, celebrating wins and stuff like that. It was pretty cool in fairness.

“I remember when we won the AIL in 2009, my father was the coach, and going on to the pitch with them all and just seeing the three days of celebrations that they had afterwards — carnage!”

There was hard work as well, and plenty of it.

“My father was coaching the senior team at the time so I was there Tuesday, Thursday, then Saturday for match days. I was out in Shannon the whole time, watching training, getting to kick around the ball on the sideline, passing with the seniors and being around them, getting in the team environment.

“There were definitely Munster matches I remember. I’m sure you’ve all seen the mascot photo (of a young Casey with the late Shannon and Munster legend Anthony Foley), that was pretty cool and obviously with Axel passing away, it probably means more seeing that photo.

“I only lived two minutes away from Thomond Park, so I’d be there every match day getting stuck into it.”

Munster's Craig Casey. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

THE word “obsession” is not considered a detriment. How could it be in a sporting family where mother Sinead and sister Amy were both elite gymnasts who competed for Ireland?

“100%, definitely obsessed,” Casey agreed.

“My father and my uncle always told me that my passing as a scrum-half is what you do most on the field, so it’s your biggest rock essentially. From an early age, I was repping that. I was really good off one hand and then Andrew Thompson from Shannon told me I needed to get better — I was only five or six, maybe seven.

“He told me that the next time I came back and he asked me, I would have to be good off the right hand. That drove me on, I practised and practised and practised, so then I went back to him and he was happy enough with it.”

Those commitment levels have stayed with Casey throughout, into the Munster academy and onto the Ireland U20 Grand Slam-winning team of 2019, the obsession driven onward during a 14-month absence through injury. And then, 12 months ago, a Heineken Champions Cup debut in Paris, off the bench against Racing followed a week later with a European home debut against Ospreys, another significant box ticked in his first season as a senior professional.

“To have the likes of Stephen Larkham for the backs, and (defence coach) JP Ferreira, I’ve learned a hell of a lot from them and I’ve been trying to soak everything up.

“Steve has helped me so much to come one with my running game, my kicking game, obviously, and just trying to see backfield space and stuff like that. And then JP has been unbelievable for my defensive education, just working with him week in, week out, seeing what I’ve done wrong in training, what I’ve done really good, trying to boss players, stuff like that. Then you’ve got a world-class coach in Graham Rowntree as well. He just comes in with the little things in terms of contacts, getting your technique right, and then Johann (van Graan) has backed me to play back-to-back-to-back this year.

“So it’s been really good and I’ve a lot of people to thank for that in fairness.”

Rowntree marveled this week at Casey’s diligence, evidenced by the constant presence of a notepad and pen in the scrum-half’s hand.

“I like to keep that just in case you need to take down a few nuggets,” he said. “Just look at what I’ve done right, like if I thought my passing was excellent at the weekend, mark that down, if I had a few poor kicks, why did I have a few poor kicks —was it the ball drop, was it seeing the wrong space, stuff like that.

“Yeah, I watch back the game three or four times and just see what we did right and then what I did right. It’s probably a bit mad but like, I’m obsessed, so it has to be done.”