'It's just Jack' - Amid Munster's monstrous slump Crowley is still leading the way

HEART AND SOUL: Munster's Jack Crowley and Craig Casey dejected after the Exeter defeat. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Munster were still miles adrift of the Chiefs in the second-half of Saturday’s Challenge Cup tie when Jack Crowley pinged a beaut of a kick from deep inside his own half for a badly-needed 50:22.

A pumped fist and a pat on the back from Craig Casey later and he was off up the sideline to remonstrate with the assistant who, in his view, had sold him and his team short of what might have been a vital few yards.

Here was Ireland’s No 10 dragging his side up the field.

If Munster’s season has threatened to collapse in on itself then their out-half has done more than anyone in an attempt to reinflate hopes with a pair of performances this past week that spoke loudly for the man’s re-emergence as the pre-eminent Irish practitioner in his field.

Crowley’s performance and leadership in the narrow URC loss to the Sharks in King’s Park two weekends ago was superb. Only two gettable missed kicks really blotted his copybook but the evidence of his Six Nations renaissance was obvious.

Things were tougher during the first-half of Munster’s loss to Exeter two days ago. The question could be asked – of the out-half, other team leaders and the management – as to why they played into the Chiefs’ hands against the wind.

Time and again Munster got caught on or behind the gain line as they went narrow and through the phases and it cost them dearly. 

Having chosen to play against the elements, they just didn’t play them well enough but Crowley came into his own after the interval.

Granted, the game was gone already given they were 31-0 down on the restart but the Cork man marshalled his side well and showed his class by poaching two of the side’s three tries in that comeback attempt.

The first, off the short side of a scrum in the 22, was a lovely poacher’s effort as he spotted the exposed scrum-half in front of him. The second was a brilliant chip and chase. There was a superb conversation from the sideline in there too.

“He probably led the fight,” said Clayton McMillan. “You could see that he'd be playing every minute. He's desperate to try and make something happen and keep fighting right to the end.” 

The stark contrast between Crowley’s form now and Sam Prendergast’s omission from the Leinster 23 that faced Edinburgh on Sunday raises again the question of how Andy Farrell handled the No 10 debate this last 18 months.

Prendergast remains a player with obvious skills but there can’t be any doubt that Crowley suffered for the faith, premature as it seems now, placed in the younger man up until the midway point of the recent Six Nations.

That Crowley is impressing as he has this last fortnight in a losing and struggling Munster team only adds to the credit he is lodging in the bank. 

His input will be crucial as the province goes about trying to secure a top eight finish in the URC.

“It's just Jack,” said Tadhg Beirne when asked about his colleague’s display. “He's always improving. He's always looking to improve. He's certainly showing it around the field at the moment. Hopefully he continues on that trajectory.

“These [defeats] can be quite frustrating. As I said to the lads, everyone has to look inward. He had a good game [on Saturday], but there'll still be plenty of improvements.”

Like Crowley and Casey, Beirne is a talismanic figure in the Munster dressing-room right now as they look to turn the corner after a run of eight defeats in their last ten games and secure Champions Cup rugby for next season.

For Beirne, the onus rests on the players to take the group where they need to be, not so much the coaches. 

It’s a line we hear time and again from players in struggling teams regardless of the sport, but the Kildare man insists they are far from done.

“We still have an opportunity of a trophy at the end of this season. It may look like a long, long way to a lot of people, but we have to focus on the next game first. Just focus on that, on that performance, and build from there.

“It's easy to walk away here with our heads down, but that's not what we're about. Getting to the next job, the next game, we're gonna have to dust our shoulders off and prove… “Like, we've done it before in the past, we just need to get on a good run. The team's well capable of it. We just have to start proving it.”