Crowley: 'From a technical point of view we didn’t get our split in terms of the backs right'

The 23-year-old Corkman has been striving alongside his coaches and team-mates to regain the attacking groove that powered Graham Rowntree’s side to the URC title last May.

Fri, 15 Dec, 2023 - 01:00

Simon Lewis

As the playmaker at the controls, fly-half Jack Crowley knows Munster have to rediscover the attacking rhythm that has made them so exciting to watch in recent months if his side are to get their Champions Cup pool campaign up and running at Exeter Chiefs on Sunday.

Last Saturday’s 17-17 draw at home to tournament newcomers Bayonne was met not only by near silence from the home supporters at Thomond Park but also with an unsparingly honest review in the Munster team room 36 hours later.

Bayonne’s rock-solid defence after clawing back 14-3 and 17-10 deficits, and a failure by the home side to manage only three points since the 20th minute, reduced Crowley to a late drop-goal attempt that died in the Limerick air along with injury-hit Munster’s hopes of an opening-night victory. The 23-year-old Corkman has been striving alongside his coaches and team-mates to regain the attacking groove that powered Graham Rowntree’s side to the URC title last May.

Last Saturday night was more clunky than scintillating, Crowley agreed and ahead of Sunday’s Pool 3, round-two trip to Sandy Park he said: “Yeah, well it’s looking at those clunky patches and seeing why.

“There were a few of those at the weekend and from a technical point of view we didn’t get our split in terms of the backs right. Sometimes you talk about backs being connected, swinging and whatnot and one or two times we were just missing a number, one player, and that’s all it takes to create the extra man on the open.

“So we look at those and we say, ‘well, how can me make it a more fluid game?’ We certainly have that in the locker. We’ve seen against Glasgow, Ulster, Leinster, there was elements of it but not a whole pile and it’s about getting to as many of those fluid moments as you can and making life a lot easier for the forwards in terms of making good decisions as backs. So playing the ball to the spaces as early as possible and as simple as possible sometimes.

“We looked at that game at the weekend and it was probably one that had the most patches where we just couldn’t get into our flow. We reviewed that quite heavily and there were real good things came out of Monday that were so basic, just maybe a split-second decision to not go led to not having that extra number.

“We certainly know how good our attack can be when we’re playing and we’re playing with options and I suppose it’s trying to get to that as much as possible and particularly against Exeter, a big team, massive linespeed.

“So it’s going to be another challenge in terms of testing our attacking ability. Like how calm can we be, and picking the right option at the right time.” Crowley added: “It will be a challenge this weekend trying to get there with the physicality they bring and the line speed, but it’s a challenge that is exciting.

“Even the way we’ve been training over the last two days, the lads have done an unreal job in just flying up and giving us those pictures.

“It’s balls down but we’re getting learnings from that in learnings how to play against different teams.”