Craig Casey on Jack Crowley relationship: 'We are both obsessed with rugby'

EARNING HIS STRIPES: Munster’s Craig Casey with the Investec Zebra. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

Craig Casey believes beating the Stormers and Leinster back-to-back would Munster the ideal boost ahead of their upcoming Investec Champions Cup pool campaign.

Munster will go into the 2023-24 competition as top seeds in their pool as URC champions and face Bayonne at Thomond Park in their opening game on Saturday, December 9 ahead of a trip to Exeter Chiefs eight days later. 

Graham Rowntree’s men then return to Toulon’s Stade Felix Mayol for the first time since 2011 on January 13 before a home appointment with familiar foes Northampton Saints in Limerick on January 20.

Yet Ireland scrum-half Casey is not looking beyond this Saturday evening’s trip to Leinster and a chance to complete back-to-back away wins over their derby rivals at Aviva Stadium following last season’s URC semi-final victory. 

Confidence is high following a dogged 10-3 win over last May’s Grand Final opponents the Stormers in Limerick last Saturday and with a home league game against Glasgow Warriors in Cork on Friday, December 1, going into the European fixtures having claimed some significant scalps would represent some healthy preparation, he agreed.

“Yeah, it would. I think it’s a big boost in general when you beat a team of the calibre of Leinster,” Casey said. “They’re a world-class side, we know that. We have a massive respect for them as a club, as players, but we’re looking to go up to Leinster and put our own stamp on the game, play our rugby and hopefully come Saturday night we’ll be delighted heading back down the road for Limerick.” 

Last Saturday’s success in wretched weather conditions against the South African Stormers was the perfect rebound from the previous week’s defeat at Ulster, Munster only loss in the new campaign so far. 

Casey, who started alongside fly-half Jack Crowley for the second week in-a-row-following their returns from World Cup duty with Ireland, described the win as “huge”.

“We know how good the Stormers are; obviously they were missing their internationals but the side that travelled over and played against us, they were talking about revenge for the final, they had their own motives coming into it but the weather played a huge part in what way the game went.

“But for us as a group, especially the forward pack, in a dog fight like that against a really tough Stormers pack and to come out the other end of it, it can only be good for us going forward.” 

Crowley, whose late drop goal sealed Leinster's fate in that semi-final, picked up the man of the match award last Saturday and Casey praised his half-back partner’s performance and continuing improvement since being handed the fly-half reins by head coach Rowntree last season.

“He has been brilliant in fairness. You can see he has come on leaps and bounds over the last two years. You can see that at the highest level.

“Getting his first cap last year was massive for him, after being on the Emerging Ireland tour he took massive confidence from it like you wouldn’t believe.

“When he came back from that tour, he was really bouncing around the place and took the leadership role as the ‘10’ to the next level that I haven’t seen from Jack.

“He gained confidence from that and then obviously getting that Irish cap, he has probably gained even more confidence.

“Then he took the reins for pretty much most of the season last year, with two unbelievable out-halves behind him in Joey (Carbery) and Ben (Healy).

“He kind of kept them at bay and made the ‘10’ jersey his own that season and drove us on to the URC, which was great.

“Our relationship has always been brilliant in fairness. We are very close off the field as friends but then on the field, we would have a really good relationship.

“I think we are both probably obsessed with rugby. We would always be texting or chatting about what went wrong here in training, what we would have done better here in training, in this game, did I do well enough for you here and he will let me know if I did well enough or if I didn’t do well enough.

“I do the exact same. We kind of have that relationship that we bounce off each other every day.”