Twickenham the next big test for ice-cool Crowley
Classy Munster man has made No10 jersey his own but wounded England provide a new threat
ANDY Farrell set out his stall long before this Six Nations championship. The Ireland head coach knew what questions were coming at the tournament launch at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
The first-round opener against France was less than four weeks away but the spectre of what transpired in France almost four months previously still loomed ominously over preparations.
‘I’m over it,’ was Farrell’s blunt reply to the first question about the quarter-final defeat by the All Blacks at Stade de France. We wondered if Farrell really meant it at the time.
We know now. The national team have shown no signs of a hangover from the big party in Paris. Meanwhile, Les Bleus are floundering and searching for a remedy but Farrell’s squad haven’t missed a beat.
We all wondered how this group would pitch up in this tournament in the wake of such a sucker punch
He didn’t see a second of action on that ill-fated evening in Paris
by the All Blacks. Johnny Sexton’s exit was leaving quite a void, too.
This squad has dusted themselves down, learned a few lessons and cracked on. They really are built in the image of their teak-tough head coach these days. And Farrell has probably moved on completely from a World Cup campaign which promised so much, but imploded at a familiarly depressing hurdle. This latest Grand Slam charge has been a nice distraction.
Saying that, Farrell wouldn’t be human if his thoughts didn’t go back to that fateful night in Saint Denis on October 14. Perhaps during an idle moment in the middle of the day or late at night when sleep is hard to come by.
In the passing of time, Farrell may be left ruing his decision to leave Jack Crowley kicking his heels on the bench for the duration. The rest of the cavalry had been sent into the fray, with Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan and Jimmy O’Brien making huge contributions in a frantic second-half fightback. But Crowley remained an unused sub, with Sexton going the full 80. Would the young Munster No10 have made a difference during that 37-phase onslaught in All Black territory? We’ll never know. Could a fresh Crowley have unpicked a lock or two in a tiring Kiwi defence when Sexton was out on his feet? Such thoughts may have crept into Farrell’s mind, from to time.
No one can argue that Crowley hasn’t stepped up in a big way since. Having bided his time at the World Cup, the 24-year-old is very much front and centre now.
The Innishannon native’s form has been a major factor in this Irish team’s barnstorming start to this Six Nations campaign.
Crowley has already made the jersey his own, according to Ronan O’Gara.
‘Within three games the debate over who plays 10 for Ireland is over, it’s shut, it’s dead,’ O’Gara ventured on his Off The Ball slot last week.
‘You talk about someone opening the door — he has kicked the door down! And he has made the position his own because as a coach, you just want acts.’ Game recognises game. He didn’t see a second of action on that ill-fated evening in the French capital, but Crowley has played all 240 minutes of this championship, steering his team to bonus-point wins against France, Italy and Wales in the process.
Marseille was the first big test of Crowley’s international chapter. There were errors. There were real moments of class as well, however. The thing which really stood out was Crowley’s composure.
He is far from the finished article, but he is walking the wall at the moment. What set the likes of Sexton and O’Gara apart was their resilience and grit when things got dicey. Crowley seems to have the same composure in the big moments.
‘He hasn’t wavered at all,’ Mike Catt, the Ireland attack coach and an equally cool character in the playing days, observed last week.
‘He’s made the odd error but that’s alright. He’s pretty mentally strong, which is great.
‘If you make an error, everyone makes errors and nobody does it on purpose, but get over it and get over it quickly.’
Crowley has made quite the impression in this post-Sexton Six Nations. He has looked the part thus far. However, the biggest examination of his fledgling Test career is hurtling down the track.
A wounded English team at Twickenham is going to be a whole new level of pressure. Steve Borthwick’s side are smarting from an implosion at Murrayfield. The hosts, despite their third-place finish at the World Cup, are far from world beaters.
Still, they are a nuggety playing group who can make life difficult for teams like Ireland. Recall the cagey Grand Slam game in Dublin last season when Freddie Steward’s red card changed the complexion of a game which had been pretty evenly matched.
Indeed, Ireland’s last visit to London in 2022 was another slugfest. England lost lock Charlie Ewels to a red card after just two minutes. If anything, that early dismissal galvanised the players and the crowd. The visitors needed a late flourish to kill off the English resistance.
Borthwick and Co will be plotting more trench warfare on Saturday. Felix Jones is trying to bring some Springboks steel to an English defence which has looked porous at times. No guessing who the former Munster full-back will be targeting this week. Jones will implore his forwards to get off the line and get at Crowley, early.
Ireland’s game is all about quick ruck ball and rhythm. England will look to knock the defending champions off their stride at every opportunity. They will seek to infiltrate Ireland’s passing channels and take the pace and cohesion out of their much-vaunted attack.
And going after a rookie outhalf with just a dozen international caps seems like a logical place to start.
If Eddie Jones was still on board, you could almost bank on the wise-cracking Aussie making some comment along those lines this week. Borthwick won’t play that game but, behind the scenes, he and his backroom team will be devising a strategy to knock this confident playmaker off his stride.
All the evidence so far suggests that Crowley can cope with a few late tackles and an aggressive defensive line.
If he manages to steer Ireland through this tricky assignment then he can look forward to a long stint in the hallowed No10 jersey.
Going after a rookie out-half seems a logical place to start