Without Crowley, Munster look a diminished beast
Jack Crowley and Craig Casey training in UL. Pic: Nick Elliott/Inpho
Munster will be offered little in the way of an easy introduction to the new URC campaign when Glasgow Warriors provide the opposition in their 2026-27 opener at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.
The 2025 champions who followed up by topping last season’s league table before a narrow semi-final exit at home to the Bulls may have lost a quartet of Scottish internationals in Huw Jones, Adam Hastings, Johnny Matthews and Jack Dempsey but there remains enough firepower in Franco Smith’s team to worry most teams in the league, never mind a Munster one missing so many key members.
The absence of Jack Crowley from the fly-half berth is as deeply felt now as it was at the tail end of last season when the dead-leg like symptoms that would be later diagnosed as a lower leg vascular injury ruled him out of the final four matches. Allied to a string of other injuries, not least to captain Tadhg Beirne, Munster just scraped into the play-offs only to receive a 45-14 quarter-final mauling by the Bulls in Pretoria.
Without Crowley, Munster look very much a diminished beast and having been stood down until at least Christmas, head coach Clayton McMillan could do without further injuries in his playmaking department. Yet that is where he finds himself on the eve of the season, with summer signing Will Harrison still not recovered from the knee issue the former Waratah re-injured on arrival from Japan’s Kinetsu Liners and rising academy star Tom Wood sidelined until at least January following shoulder surgery.
JJ Hanrahan resumes possession of the number 10 jersey having recovered from the head injury he sustained earlier this month during the same internal game that cost Wood his opportunity to shine, with that door now opening for first-year academy fly-half Charlie O’Shea, named on the bench for a senior debut having shone in last weekend’s warm-up defeat at home to Leicester Tigers.
The 20-year-old UCC player and former CBC Cork captain could hardly have imagined getting the nod just a month after reporting for his first pre-season following Ireland’s Under-20 World Championship campaign. And O’Shea is sure not to be the only young gun pressed into service in the coming weeks.
In addition to Crowley, Harrison and Tom Wood, Munster are also without the injured Tom Ahern, Shane Daly, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Farrell, Calvin Nash and Ruadhan Quinn as well as internationals Beirne, Jeremy Loughman and Craig Casey. The latter’s absence as a summer tourist Down Under means academy scrum-half Jake O’Riordan is named as back-up to starting nine Ben O’Donovan, himself just elevated to the senior squad following his arrival into the academy from New Zealand’s Canterbury last February.
With so much raw talent around and a lot of key leaders missing this weekend, the summer additions of Test rugby-experienced front rowers Kieran Brookes, the former England tighthead who starts against Glasgow, and South Africa-capped hooker Marnus van der Merwe, named on the bench behind matchday captain Diarmuid Barron, could prove vital as Munster attempt to withstand the expected onslaught from a Scottish team with title ambitions.
Yet forwards coach Jimmy Duffy also wants the younger brigade to stand up and find their voices. On Tuesday, the former Connacht, Tonga, Ireland U20, Western Force and Ulster assistant challenged Munster’s “young-ish bunch” to push on and create their own history. That is a task easier said than done with the Galwegian admitting it was impossible to say how long that would take to come to fruition.
“There's a real drive to get better and push on and how long that takes, who knows, but the work ethic at the moment, the motivation is very, very high,” Duffy said.
Glasgow will represent a sharp learning curve for the likes of not just O’Shea and O’Riordan but even the slightly more experienced forwards Evan O’Connell, a starting lock, and replacement back-rower Brian Gleeson.
“They're top of the league in most statistics,” Duffy said of the visitors.
“They're very, very strong in attack, a very big maul, a very big scrum, love to counter-attack, they come and get you in defence. There's a reason they're in and around the Champions Cup knock-outs last year and (URC) champions two seasons ago.
“They've loads of international players, they're together, they're a settled team. They have a couple of new signings, obviously, but they've been together a long time.
“I think this group are mature, they're all in or around 28, 29. They're a solid bunch of international players who like to attack and like to hurt you when they can.
“They play a fast attacking brand of rugby and I know Nigel (Carolan, Glasgow’s attack coach) really well and he's done a phenomenal job over there. So, they'll want to come and put their mark on it.”
Knowing what’s coming is one thing, negating it quite another and this will be a very early test of Munster’s readiness for the long season ahead.
M Haley; D Kilgallen, A Nankivell, S O’Brien, B O’Connor; JJ Hanrahan, B O’Donovan; M Milne, D Barron - captain, K Brookes; E O’Connell, F Wycherley; J O’Donoghue, A Kendellen, G Coombes.
M van der Merwe, J Wycherley, M Ala’alatoa, B Gleeson, J Hodnett, J O’Riordan, C O’Shea, D Kelly.
J McKay; K Rowe, O Smith, S McDowall - captain, J Dobie; D Lancaster, G Horne; P Schickerling, G Hiddleston, M Walker; G Brown, M Williamson; A Miller, R Darge, M Fagerson.
S Stephen, N McBeth, S Talakai, S Cummings, A Fraser, M Duncan, C Reidy, B Kuenzle.
Morné Ferreira (South Africa).
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