Jack Crowley ready to fill Johnny Sexton void at Ireland says Simon Easterby
STEP UP: Jack Crowley training with Ireland. Pic Credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.
Ireland are confident there is a queue of hungry fly-halves led by Jack Crowley ready to fill the void left by Johnny Sexton’s retirement as they prepare for their Guinness Six Nations opener in France next weekend.
Crowley, 24, is in line to inherit the number 10 jersey for next Friday night’s 2024 championship opener at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, less than four months after left the stage at the World Cup in France after 118 Ireland appearances.
The Munster playmaker is the most experienced of the four fly-halves in Andy Farrell’s Six Nations training squad currently at a warm-weather camp on Portugal’s Algarve, with nine caps, compared to Harry Byrne’s two and Ciaran Frawley’s lone Test appearance. Sam Prendergast, named as a training panellist outside the 34-man official squad, is uncapped.
Whoever gets the nod has a big vacuum to fill but defence coach Simon Easterby, speaking from Quinta do Lago yesterday, said Crowley was up to the task.
“Jack’s always had that confidence,” Easterby said. “That’s not just now, it was what he was like when he first came in. I experienced Jack in Bloemfontein a while ago on the Emerging (Ireland) tour and he impressed us with the way he handles himself, the way he demands high standards, and not just of others but of himself and that’s the mark of a young man that’s driving to be really successful.
“He will have learned a huge amount from his time with Johnny, as would all of our 10s, Harry, Frawls, and Sam coming in as well. So I think we’ve got a really good blend of players in that position at the moment. Players who are hungry to take the baton on and Jack’s certainly one of those.
“The other guys will be pushing each other to try and force our hand in selection but I think it’s a really nice group at the moment because there’s a bit of a void to fill, I guess but that’s what losing a player like Johnny leaves.
"All four of them, Sam included, are really working hard to fill that and try and emulate and better what we’ve done before.”
Improving on what has gone before as a collective has been a significant focus since the squad reconvened last Monday for the first time since the World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of New Zealand last October.
Easterby had yesterday told broadcasters the post-match review conducted by the coaching staff led by Farrell and also including attack coach Mike Catt, and forwards coach Paul O’Connell, had concluded Ireland “probably didn’t fire enough shots and make the most of the opportunities in that game”.
Asked to pinpoint the reasons for that in his subsequent session with written media, the defence coach backtracked on his earlier statement.
"I wouldn't say firing shots, maybe that wasn't the right term, more that we looked at it this week with Faz and Catts and we had opportunities to go and punish New Zealand more and we didn't do that.
"Certainly we scored points, no doubt, and I still think if we hadn't conceded one more try then we would have won. I just think we were a little bit too easy to score against and in terms of the other side the ball in attack, there were just a couple of opportunities that we feel if we'd have been in a slightly better position, worked a little bit harder to get into position, we would have taken those opportunities to score.
"That was what I was trying to get at, not firing shots. We did that, and we went after New Zealand. We went 13-0 down and we came back, kept going after them but just let them get ahead again and that was the difference.
"There will always be opportunities that you feel like that we missed out on and that's what we reflected on this week. I wouldn't say we didn't fire any shots.”
Nevertheless, there is agreement Ireland will need to start shooting if they are to get their 2024 campaign up and running at the Velodrome next Friday.
“It will be hostile, a brilliant atmosphere, I’m sure, under the lights on a Friday night.
“There are not many better places we’d wish to be on the opening weekend of the Six Nations. It’s up to us to make sure we prepare the players in the right way that they can hit the ground running and really attack the game.”
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