Jack Crowley named URC Players' Player of the Season

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Munster’s Jack Crowley has been named the United Rugby Championship Players’ Player of the Season for 2023-24, competition organisers announced on Thursday. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Munster’s Jack Crowley has been named the United Rugby Championship Players’ Player of the Season for 2023-24, competition organisers announced on Thursday.

The award comes a day after Munster boss Graham Rowntree was crowned BKT Coach of the Season after a vote by the 16-team league’s head coaches. Now Crowley has also received the recognition from his peers after the fly-half’s first full season as the province’s first-choice number 10, helping them to first place in the standings.

It is the second URC award for 2023-24 in as many weeks for Crowley with the now 24-year-old also named the Next-Gen Player of the Season, voted for by members of the media across all five nations, to recognise young up-and-coming talent who started the season aged 23 or under.

The winner of the Players’ Player of the Season Award goes to… @MunsterRugby’s Jack Crowley 💥#URC | #URCAwards

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 20, 2024

Crowley had made just seven starts at fly-half before April 1 last season but was handed the leading role in five of the final six games of the campaign as Munster marched to the URC title with a Grand Final win at the Stormers in Cape Town.

This season has seen him continue his development in confident fashion and become Ireland’s first-choice 10 following the retirement of Johnny Sexton for a successful Six Nations title defence.

  His URC campaign garnered two tries and 97 points in 12 starts as Munster reached the play-off semi-finals on the back of a 10-game winning run that also saw the Innishannon, Co Cork, native named in this season’s URC Elite XV dream team and has now been voted players’ player of 2023-24 after a poll of the captain and vice-captains of all 16 teams.

  In voting for Crowley, one of his peers said: “He has been great for Munster the whole season and pivotal at the back end of the campaign, bringing them to top of the table.”    Crowley is the second Ireland star in a row to be named Players’ Player of the Season following last year’s success for Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan. Stormers back-rower Evan Roos won the prize in 2021/22.