Jamison Gibson-Park embraces being 'one of the senior folk' with Ireland

SENIOR FOLK: Jamison Gibson-Park training with Ireland. Pic Credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.

Jamison Gibson-Park has backed new half-back partner Jack Crowley to take ownership of the Ireland team when he is handed the playmaking reins against France in Marseille tomorrow night.

Crowley, 24, was named Ireland’s number 10 by head coach Andy Farrell yesterday for this Guinness Six Nations opener, the first match of the post-Johnny Sexton era.

Just starting his Test career, the Munster fly-half’s international experience is dwarfed by his predecessor, who retired last October after 118 Ireland appearances.

Crowley has just nine but scrum-half Gibson-Park, 31 and Sexton’s half-back partner with Leinster since moving to Ireland from the Hurricanes in 2016, has seen the new man grab his opportunity to lead whenever he has been handed the role.

Farrell described Crowley yesterday as “a confident kid,” adding: "He's a confident kid, Jack, so being able to grab hold of the team, it's tough for young kids, especially with responsibilities like in his position but he feels very comfortable in being able to do that.

"How you run a week is pretty important and you're making sure that the rest of your team-mates feel that you're in control. He's obviously learned a lot from Johnny in that regard."

Gibson-Park's impressions of Crowley's ability to guide his team-mates echoed Farrell's.

"I think he was always kind of that way," the scrum-half said. "Whenever he played before, he was pretty keen to lead the team around and he did a lot of sitting down with Johnny and he was pretty keen to pick his brain as well.

“All of them, I think, in their own right, are pretty confident of leading a team. You've certainly seen it with Harry (Byrne), the games he's played for Leinster, he's done pretty well.

"And it's the same with Jack marshalling Munster around the pitch. I think they're still young guys but with pretty good heads on their shoulders."

Tadhg Beirne with Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki.

Gibson-Park, with 30 Ireland caps to his name ahead of tomorrow night's France clash, has also done his bit to fill the leadership vacuum created by Sexton’s retirement at both Leinster and the nation team, taking on greater responsibility at half-back alongside the likes of Crowley, Harry Byrne and fellow squad members Ciaran Frawley and the currently injured Ross Byrne.

"Yeah, I'm getting old man, I suppose, one of the senior folk now. I've not been trying to force it too much, but I think it just happens over time naturally.

"I played with Johnny for so long and learned so much. I think it's only right for me... obviously I'm not going to do it at the same level as him but to be passing it onto the other guys.

"But at the same time we've got great 10s at Leinster - Ross, Harry and Frawls - and Jack coming into camp as well. All good players and doing really well so far so I'm looking forward to the weekend."

New Zealand-born Gibson-Park became Irish qualified after five years as a Leinster player in the autumn of 2020 and made his debut against Italy in that year's Covid-delayed Six Nations.

His second cap came a week later against the French in Paris and he endured back to back championship defeats to Les Bleus, only to miss last year's epic victory in Dublin due to injury.

Now he had the opportunity to amend the record although he does not expect France to be weakened by the absence of inspirational scrum-half rival Antoine Dupont, who sits out this year’s Six Nations in his bid to make the Paris Olympics as a member of the France Sevens team.

Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu starts at number nine in Dupont's stead and Gibson-Park said: "He's a class player, he's had some unbelievable games, even for France with a very limited amount of game time.

"He'd normally come on for five minutes. It's understandable because why are you going to take off a guy like Antoine? But he's doing awesome stuff with his club and I'm sure between him and (fly-half Mathieu) Jalibert, they'll have a few things cooked up.

"It doesn't take away much from them at all. You could argue that potentially Lucu could be a better system player. We might expect a little bit of a different style from them but certainly not any weaker."