Jack Crowley backs Munster review process amid criticism of leadership

Former Munster captain Peter O'Mahony was the latest to criticise the province's decision makers

Jack Crowley: 'It's important to put a good pre-season in. But to me, the most important thing is how you turn up in the middle of December or January when you're playing away to Dragons.' Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

The criticisms of Munster as an organisation have been mounting, but Jack Crowley is adamant that Clayton McMillan’s squad has everything it needs off the field to succeed on it.

Peter O’Mahony became the latest member of the old guard this week to fix the province’s decision-makers firmly in his crosshairs with publication of his book All In. Conor Murray and Keith Earls made similar noises last year.

The Cork man, in his autobiography, has detailed his dissatisfaction with former head coach Graham Rowntree when it came to talks on his last contract with the province, and he went further on the Indo Sport podcast this week.

It was there that O’Mahony laid bare his lack of belief in the current Munster leadership and stated baldly that the governance has to change in an organisation which is currently reviewing its structures in the wake of the Roger Randle controversy.

“It's obviously out there that there's the review, so that's going on,” said Crowley. “But, it's very evident that that's been taken care of. And since we've come in, there's been a trust in that and the processes that will come of it.

“But as a playing group, it's solely around how we can deliver performances consistently. And you can't do that if you're putting your focus elsewhere and expending your energy in areas that you can't control.

“So it's really important that - and we have it - is just that sense of connection and moving forward together. We'll see what will come of that.”

Munster started their season with a URC defeat at home to Glasgow last weekend, but there were shoots of promise in the performance as they look to bed in new players and some new coaches to the Clayton McMillan project.

Crowley won’t be a part of any of that for some time yet as he continues to deal with the vascular problem which has kept him sidelined since April, but he feels success for Munster will hinge on cold, wet days in Newport rather than sunny days in France.

“You just don't know. I mean, every season that I've been involved in, it's gone about a different way. Started really well last year, didn't finish the way we wanted to. The year we went on to win the final, we had a bad start and then managed to come back at the end.

“It's important to put a good pre-season in. But to me, the most important thing is how you turn up in the middle of December or January when you're playing away to Dragons and you win those games.

“To me, that's what makes trophy-winning teams, is ones that things might not be going your way, a result or two might have gone, but you have processes in place that you know you can go to and trust.

“To be fair, that's, in my experience, what matters most. When you're out there, we'll know when it comes to it. I think it's having processes in place and being mentally tough enough to show back up and go again.”