Farrell has full trust in novice pilot Crowley

The Ireland boss is looking forward to seeing just how up to the task Jack Crowley is in Marseille Friday night.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM: Munster and Ireland out-half Jack Crowley. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

It is not the number of Test caps your No.10 has but what they do with them once they come your way that matters to Andy Farrell and the Ireland boss is looking forward to seeing just how up to the task Jack Crowley is in Marseille tomorrow night.

The Munster flyhalf, a month past his 24th birthday, has been handed the keys to Ireland’s playbook for this Guinness Six Nations opener against France at Stade Velodrome and he will be expected to pick up where Johnny Sexton left off when he called time on his playing career after his 118th Ireland appearance at the age of 38 last October.

Such was Sexton’s dominance of his position and longevity in the green jersey that the gulf in experience between him and the current crop of next-gen flyhalves is stark. 

One of four fresh faces in a team captained by Peter O’Mahony compared to the line-up Sexton led against New Zealand in the 28-24 World Cup quarter-final defeat 16 weeks ago, Crowley is the most capped of the four 10s who trained in Portugal this week.

Tomorrow night will bring his 10th cap, replacement Ciarán Frawley his second, matching Harry Byrne’s tally, while training panellist Sam Prendergast is uncapped.

This will be Crowley’s fourth start and none will have carried the challenges this heavyweight contest presents. Would the head coach rather his main man had more experience, he was asked yesterday before the squad left its Algarve training base for Marseille.

“No, because it is what it is. You can’t just say that it’s just down to experience,” Farrell said. “It’s down to performing when you get the chance isn’t it?

“Someone like Jack and Ciarán Frawley, Harry not as much because he’s been injured quite a bit, they’ve had plenty of opportunities to show in camp that they’re capable of taking the jersey.

“Now they’ve got that chance and then on the back of that you’ve got young Sam that’s come in and had 10 days with us.

“He’s a pretty impressive young fella who’s hungry enough to try and make it as soon as he possibly can.

“It’s not about just giving someone 50 caps and saying ‘the position is yours’, it’s what right for the team and what’s best for the team, and with that competition we’ll find out who’s up to the task.”

Farrell must do without the injured Garry Ringrose, with Robbie Henshaw promoted to outside centre to partner Bundee Aki, while the other changes see Calvin Nash placed in the right-wing
berth in the absence of injury victim Mack Hansen and lock Joe McCarthy handed, like Nash, his first Six Nations start alongside Tadhg Beirne.

It remains a familiar line-up, albeit with a bench of six forwards and two backs, despite the obvious void created by Sexton’s retirement, but Farrell does not foresee a variation in Ireland’s attacking shape as a new era for his team gets under way.

“No, I don’t think so. I think what we worked hard with Johnny over the last four years was everyone around him taking responsibility,” said Farrell.

“I certainly feel that we’ve come on in leaps and bounds in that regard. No longer are we just reliant on the 10 to steer the ship, you look at the progression in the last four years that Hugo Keenan has made or Mack Hansen has made or James Lowe has made, Robbie, Bundee, as far as his organisation and his skills have gone through the roof.

“We’ve worked hard to get to that point and hopefully that will continue.”

What Farrell expects is a swift turning of the page from last October’s All Blacks defeat at Stade de France, when he felt his team’s concession of an early 13-0 lead and then their failure to convert the
opportunities they created were the telling factors in a 28-24 defeat.

“To be more ruthless is what we’re all (after), that’s the gold standard, isn’t it?

“The reality is that when you’re playing against good sides like we are in France, it’s not going to be perfect. It’s how we deal with our disappointment, because our expectations are high and just getting on with what’s in front of our face and not compounding (errors).

“So, the way that we train and pressure we put on each other.

“There’s plenty of imperfections, but how we work on our mentality to get to that next moment is getting better all the time.

“It’s an emotional game, isn’t it?

“You need to get to a point to physically play this game, to be in control of your thoughts when things aren’t quite going your way. It’s a skill that needs to be constantly honed in on.

“We’re down that road, we’ve been down that road for quite some time but we’re nowhere near where we need to be,” said Farrell.

FRANCE: T Ramos (Toulouse); D Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles), G Fickou (Racing 92), J Danty (La Rochelle), Y Moefana (Bordeaux-Bègles); M Jalibert (Bordeaux-Bègles), M Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles); C Baille (Toulouse), P Mauvaka (Toulouse) U Atonio (La Rochelle); P Gabrillagues (Stade Francais), P Willemse (Montpellier); F Cros (Toulouse), C Ollivon (Toulon), G Alldritt (La Rochelle) – captain.

Replacements: J Marchand (Toulouse), R Wardi (La Rochelle), D Aldegheri (Toulouse), R Taofifenua (Lyon), C Woki (Racing 92), P Boudehent (La Rochelle), R Le Garrec (Racing 92), L Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Bègles) 

IRELAND: H Keenan (Leinster); C Nash (Munster), R Henshaw (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Lowe (Leinster); J Crowley (Munster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster); J McCarthy (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); P O’Mahony (Munster) - captain, J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), R Baird (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), C Frawley (Leinster).