Craig Casey hopes South African battles have him well prepared

DETERMINED: Craig Casey during an Ireland training session. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Craig Casey is hoping Munster’s URC Grand Final success on South African soil last season can spark further success for Ireland at this World Cup.

The scrum-half is hoping to make his tournament debut on Saturday when Ireland face Tonga in Nantes in their second Pool B match ahead of heavyweight clashes against the defending-champion Springboks and Scotland, both of which are in Paris on September 23 and October 7 respectively.

The 24-year-old said on Tuesday he had taken great confidence from Munster’s 19-14 URC final victory over the Stormers in Cape Town on May 27 as well as developing a thirst for more trophies.

“First off it’s a goal you wanted since you first started watching Munster, to win trophies with Munster, to tick off one of those is brilliant,” Casey said after training at Stade de la Chambrerie in Tours.

“But coming into camp, into a World Cup camp, it gives you a confidence boost knowing you’ve played in big games and obviously looking into the World Cup group and you’ve got South Africa in the group so to play down there for a good few weeks and then win down there is 100 per cent brilliant and it shows the coaches you’ve been down in South Africa, you’ve played physical teams and that’s definitely something.

“To win a trophy with Munster, a huge goal ticked off. But you want to win more so, kind of drive on that spark to win a World Cup.” 

Casey said the focus was all on “a tough Tonga team” this week, however, in a match which potentially could pit several Munster players against former club-mate Malakai Fekitoa. The former All Black centre, who spent last season at Munster before signing for Benetton this season, made a good impression on his team-mates, the scrum-half said.

“Really kind of quiet guy, humble fella, really good guy to be around, always trying to help young lads get better, even old lads get better, drive standards, and bring new things into the environment that he has picked up along the way so he’s very giving back kind of fella, very family orientated as well I’d say, he’s just had a new child, a lovely fella to be around.” 

Casey is also enjoying the company of his fellow Irish squad members, adding: “It’s class, it’s exactly where you want to be as an Irish rugby player, at a World Cup being involved in this group.

“I think we’ve all talked about what the buzz has been for the last two or three years and it’s definitely increased since we got over here, the excitement levels within the group are brilliant but obviously mixing a lot of hard work and the first two weeks we’ve landed here were definitely hard work but we’re mixing it with the craic as well so it’s a very enjoyable place to be.” 

Casey has also made peace with his status as the victim of jokes about his diminutive stature. The 5ft 5ins number nine was the butt of the joke once again at Ireland’s public training session in Tours when the 12,000 mostly-local spectators saw captain Johnny Sexton emerge from the tunnel at Stade de la Vallee du Cher holding his half-back partner’s hand as if the Limerick man were a team mascot.

Nor was that the first occurrence with similar instances at captain’s run training sessions in last season’s Six Nations and November international window.

“Look, they take the piss out of my height as you can tell but you’ve just got to roll with it. If you don’t roll with it, you’ll probably be fined. There are a few sheriffs in the camp that keep everyone on their toes. I’d say if I fought against it I’d probably be in big trouble so I just get on with it. It’s good craic, it’s good craic.”