Impeccable timing of Jack Crowley's contract renewal provides huge boost for Munster
ALL SYSTEMS GO: Jack Crowley during a Munster Rugby squad training at the University of Limerick in Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
It may have been expected, but when the news did drop confirming Jack Crowley’s decision to remain at Munster, the timing was impeccable.
With a choreography every bit as impressive as Crowley’s game-winning drop goal in La Rochelle last Saturday, a two-year contract extension to keep the Ireland fly-half on home soil until the summer of 2027 will give Munster further impetus heading to Bordeaux-Begles this Saturday with a mission to secure a first Champions Cup semi-final appearance in six seasons.
Confidence had already been boosted by the quality of performances in Munster’s last two outings with Crowley’s half-back partnership with a fit-again Craig Casey one of the cornerstones of a return to form for the province.
Both fly-half and scrum-half had big impacts on the 25-24 victory at Stade Marcel-Deflandre last weekend, Casey on the end of Thaakir Abraham’s scintillating line break to score Munster’s opening try and Crowley’s 10 points from the kicking tee proving crucial to the outcome, not least that difficult drop goal on 68 minutes.
Defence coach Denis Leamy was understandably glowing this week about their impact on the team.
“I haven’t seen a successful European Cup team over the last 25 years not have really strong half-backs,” Leamy said. “I think Jack and Craig are young, but they’re certainly growing all the time and they’re getting experience and confidence and they’re coming up with big plays.
“There are real leaders within them and they are growing all the time. How they’ve come back and how they’ve played in the last couple of weeks has been a massive plus for us.”
The last fortnight has seen Crowley, 25, take another leap forward in his progression to emerge from what must have been a dark period for the Innishannon man when the Ireland management handed the green number 10 jersey to an even younger pretender, Sam Prendergast.
His Ireland future became the subject of intense debate, drawn largely along provincial lines as his Leinster rival was handed the reins of the national team despite Crowley steering it to the 2024 Six Nations title defence and a drawn series with South Africa last summer.
Prendergast had been elevated to Test starter during last November’s Autumn Nations Series and the 21-year-old continued at 10 for the first four rounds of this season’s championship.
Crowley had impressed off the bench to see Ireland home to an opening-round victory over England but then had to settle for cameo roles at full-back and in midfield off the bench for the matches against Scotland, Wales and France, with reports surfacing of a big-money offer to move to Leicester Tigers this summer.
He started the win against Italy in Rome as speculation swirled about his intentions beyond this season and then returned to Munster for back-to-back man of the match performances, in the URC derby victory at Connacht and against La Rochelle last Saturday to guide Munster to this weekend’s Champions Cup quarter-finals.
His match-winning points against Ronan O’Gara’s two-time recent European champions earned the praise of his boyhood hero, who called it a “peach of a drop goal”, which brought Crowley’s points tally to 305 points in 65 appearances for Munster since his senior debut against Ulster in January 2021.
It also sends the province on a high into this Saturday’s last-eight clash back in France against Bordeaux-Begles, when another familiar face will stand between them and next month’s semis, the Cork man’s one-time positional rival Joey Carbery.
Crowley has seen off Carbery once, prompting the former Ireland 10 to seek fresh pastures, and successfully so, in a Bordeaux backline brimming with world-class talent.
Now he must do it again, at Stade Chaban-Delmas, and news of his commitment being confirmed for another two seasons will be a massive boost.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
