Easterby confident 'great pro' Crowley will stay in Ireland after reports of big-money Leicester move

Crowley’s selection for Ireland comes at the end of a week which has seen English media report a big-money offer from Leicester Tigers to lure him away from Munster.

Ireland's Jack Crowley. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Simon Easterby is confident Jack Crowley knows his future belongs in Irish rugby after recalling the fly-half to Ireland’s number 10 jersey for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations finale against Italy.

Crowley, 25, replaces younger rival Sam Prendergast at fly-half for the first time in the 2025 championship having lost his starting place to the rookie playmaker midway through November’s Autumn Nations Series and being restricted to cameos at full-back in the last three matches with his rival allowed to play the full 80 minutes against Scotland, Wales and France.

Last Saturday’s heavy home loss to the French has prompted interim head boss Easterby to “freshen things up a little bit” with Crowley one of six changes from the starting line-up beaten 42-27 at Aviva Stadium as Ireland bid to rebound and give themselves an outside chance of claiming a third Six Nations title in a row.

Tellingly, Crowley’s selection comes at the end of a week which has seen English media report a big-money offer from Leicester Tigers to lure him away from Munster at the end of the season.

If the Corkman were to leave his home province it would effectively end his international career, temporarily at least, under the IRFU’s policy of not picking overseas-based players for Test duty but Easterby said he had not discussed the fly-half’s future with him this week in light of the transfer speculation.

“I think those things happen all the time,” Easterby said. “Every week really in camp there have been guys who have renegotiated contracts and are staying with their respective provinces.

“Jack knows how important he is to us. Regardless of selection across the last four games, he understands the role that he has and the standing he has in the group.

“He’s a brilliant person first and foremost, he’s a great pro, he’s always looking to get better and we believe that for him to keep getting better, keeping getting experiences at this level and keep driving us forward as a team and being competitive in the No 10 position in particular, it’s important that he obviously plays his rugby in Ireland. And we are confident that will continue to happen.” 

There are three other changes and a positional switch in the Irish backline for the Stadio Olimpico mission with first-choice wings Mack Hansen and James Lowe restored following injury and Garry Ringrose returning from suspension at outside centre as Robbie Henshaw moves inside to number 12 with Bundee Aki dropping to the bench.

In the forward pack, James Ryan comes into the second row as Joe McCarthy moves to the replacements while Peter O’Mahony’s 114th and final Test appearance will be from the bench after being replaced at blindside flanker by Jack Conan.

Scrum-half Conor Murray will earn his 125th and last cap as a walk-on player, one of three backline replacements as Ireland shelve the 6:2 split between forwards and backs on the bench in favour of a 5:3 combination, Prendergast and Aki the others.

Jack Boyle, a debutant off the bench against Wales in round three, provides loosehead prop cover as Cian Healy has to settle for his last Ireland appearance coming on home soil the previous week, while tighthead Tadhg Furlong is set for his first Test appearance since last summer after finally overcoming the calf and hamstring problems that had restricted him to three Leinster appearances this season. Hooker Gus McCarthy also comes onto the bench for his fourth cap but it is Crowley’s selection ahead of Prendergast as starting 10 that catches the eye.

Easterby said: "I guess every week you look at the different make-up of the team and how that fits how you want to play and the performance.

"Regardless of the result last week we were looking at making changes. Jack's been brilliant, working away, supporting Sam in his first experiences of the Six Nations. Jack had that last year and we just felt like it was the right thing to do for Jack, to get in to lead the week.

“It was a pretty physical game last week, it took a lot out of a lot of players in particular. That role that Sam has done has been brilliant in terms of leading the team. It takes a lot pf physical effort, but also mental effort.

"It will be a good week to freshen things up a little bit. Sam's got a different role now top play, coming off the bench, and it allows Jack, who is a bit fresher, to lead the week. I just thought it was the right thing to do there.”