Credit in the bank earns Jack Crowley starting Ireland spot against All Blacks

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said the competition for Ireland's number 10 jersey, and other positions, is "where you’d want it to be".

RIVALS: Jack Crowley, left, and Ciarán Frawley during an Ireland squad training session at The Campus in Quinta da Lago, Portugal. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell backed Jack Crowley to cash in on his “credit” in the Ireland bank by handing the Munster fly-half a start for Ireland against New Zealand on Friday night.

The Ireland head coach handed Crowley the reins in the wake of Johnny Sexton’s retirement following the 2023 World Cup and has been rewarded with a successful Six Nations title defence and a drawn series in South Africa against the world-champion Springboks.

Yet Crowley has been playing behind a struggling Munster pack this season, whose performances have led to three successive URC defeats and Farrell has selected the 24-year-old to start in the opening game of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series of November Tests despite the stronger form of Ciaran Frawley, who secured the summer’s series draw in Durban with a match-winning drop goal after replacing the Corkman at Kings Park.

Frawley remains on the Ireland bench in the 22 jersey, the same one handed to Crowley 13 months ago when Farrell selected his team to face the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final in Paris, the Munsterman an unused replacement behind then captain Johnny Sexton.

Since then, following Sexton’s retirement, Crowley has started all of Ireland’s seven Tests, six of them victories and Farrell on Thursday made it clear that he was selecting on what he had seen for himself, on matchdays and during the recent warm-weather training camp in Portugal.

“There’s a bit of credit there, isn’t there, with Jack,” the Irish boss said as he discussed his team selection for Friday night.

“Like a few players, not just at Munster but at other provinces where I’m sure form is something they’d like to be pushing a bit further.

“But, I suppose when they come into camp there’s a new start and we judge them on being able to perform in front of each other and Jack’s been great as far as that’s concerned.

“Having said that, the competition in that position and in others is where you’d want it to be and where we want it developing as it should do.”