Chicago role still 'eating away' at honest and maturing Craig Casey

Craig Casey has watched Cam Roigard's late try for the All Blacks against Ireland 25 times. "It’s completely on me," said the scrum-half. 

Craig Casey is happy with the basics of his game. The next step is to add players. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell preaches a no-excuses culture, Craig Casey embodies it. When Ireland got back from Chicago and sifted through their usual post-game debrief on the Monday morning, the Munster scrum-half made a point of standing up and calling himself out.

The game was basically done by the time Cam Roigard picked up the ball at the base of a New Zealand scrum five metres from the try line. The All Blacks were eight points up with less than four minutes on the clock. Ireland were a busted flush.

But Roigard had another card to play. With one sidestep, the Kiwi No.9 ducked back inside Casey and two other defenders before dotting down over the white line. It was far too easy a score, and it symbolised the ease with which the Kiwis pulled away in the end.

“It’s completely on me,” said Casey. “I got caught up at the time with the winger coming in. I’ve watched it 25 times and I still don’t know what I was thinking at the time. I have to take it on the chin, come back from it, and be better.

“It’s never nice when a scrum-half scores against you, either.” 

Admirable, honest stuff, especially in a public forum.

“It’s been eating at me for the last few days. I got the chance to say it in the meeting, be honest with the lads. Everyone has been like that over the last few days. You probably can’t recover from it if you’re not honest with each other or honest with yourself.” 

There was no glossing over the rest of the 26-13 loss either. Casey came on for Jamison Gibson-Park with 13 minutes to go but he was part of a bench that wasn’t able to make any dent in a game that had started to slip away from Ireland before the full reserve was deployed.

New Zealand were dominating possession. Casey’s first touch was followed by a knock-on in second phase and it was five minutes before he got it back again. There’s very little that any scrum-half can do if he can’t get his hands on the ball.

“I felt I didn’t come on and steal the show the way I wanted to.” 

There’s no consolation in the fact that he was limited in opportunities but Casey has learned that you can’t burst into a game at a hundred miles an hour either and try to make it about yourself. There’s a feel to coming on and finding your flow.

As he says himself, he has plenty of previous as a replacement. He’s 26 now with over a hundred caps for Munster and into the low-twenties with Ireland. The Energiser bunny that caught the eye has matured into a more considered operator.

“The scanning and the calmness is something you have probably seen improve over the last 18 months. When things click in your mind and you can actually see things that you have never seen before on the field, that is the biggest area of growth.

“My next area of growth is to be an all-round player, to bring your full game to every single game and just be consistently world class. I am very happy with the basics of my game. It is probably adding layers onto that.” 

None of that happened overnight. He spent anything up to six years building up that understanding, learning off the Gibson-Parks and Johnny Sextons and how they communicated with their centres and their wingers.

It first began to click on the tour to South Africa last summer when he got the chance to start against the Springboks, but there isn’t any sense ahead of Saturday’s game with Japan of a man who has put away the paper and pencil.

There’s still plenty to learn.

“I’m definitely not where I want to be as a player. I’ve definitely grown over the last few years but there is still a long way to go to take my game to the next level and to try and get to be consistently world-class. There is a lot of hard work still to do.” 

Casey has captained his province and he was handed the same honour with his country for the tour to Georgia and Portugal over the summer. It was an experience he lapped up, not least because he had missed the Six Nations with injury. More progress.

Conor Murray’s retirement has made the succession stakes at scrum-half all the clearer. There is no-one threatening Casey’s case as first reserve, but he’s looking ahead, not over his shoulder. The goal is to start for Ireland, to push ever higher.

“I hope I’m pretty close. I’ve pushed a lot over the last 12 months but I have a lot of respect for Jamo as a player. I don’t want to be second-choice. I didn’t want to be the third-choice over the last few years. It’s about taking the chance when I do get it.

“Hopefully I will get the chance.”