It wasn’t part of Jack Crowley’s Bandon Grammar plans that by his mid-20s he might have to wrap himself in a protective covering, become an endless topic of conversation and divide opinion. He couldn’t have known how heavily the slings and arrows around the Irish number 10 shirt would fall, where they might land and who might be hurt.
But Crowley, despite the thousands of words written and spoken about him, has kept an equilibrium and calm spirit. The noise that rages around him and Leinster outhalf Sam Prendergast, the scrutiny that comes with playing in the World Cup or Six Nations, he wouldn’t swap.
Crowley is where he wants to be. In his world that is a triumph. Where some see sleights or unfairness, he sees learning to be better. Where others see selection disappointment, he sees self-belief.
Asked to cast his mind back to his teenage years in Innishannon and look on the current 25-year-old player and where he currently stands in Irish rugby and his answer is unequivocal.
How did Leinster’s young guns outmatch the Sharks?
“I think I’d bite your hand off for the opportunity to be where I am right now,” he says. “At times with that perfection element, you are always trying to think that you could be in a better position.
“But when I was a young fella the goal was to get my first cap for Munster and if I kept it as simple as that ... right now where I am and to be in the positions I am in and to have the opportunities I have in front of me, I’d be a fool if I said I wouldn’t snap that right up.”
For every doubter there is a supporter and for every critic there is an answer. Last week in MacHale Park, Crowley answered, kicking his points, scoring his try and winning player of the match. A few years ago, Ronan O’Gara saw something in Crowley and offered him a change of direction.
More than the coach of La Rochelle, O’Gara was the player Crowley wanted to be, the name that, as a young player, resonated. O’Gara winning Heineken Cups and writing his name into Munster history coloured his dreams and ambitions. But when O’Gara came, Crowley turned him down.
“There was an opportunity that came about, and they always will be coming about. That’s the way that it goes,” he says. “There were conversations, and it was a long time ago and between now and then a lot has changed. But yeah, we had conversations then and I’m happy with where I am.
“I’d be lying to you if I said he wasn’t someone that I wanted to grow up and imitate. Watching Heineken Cups being lifted, as a young fella, that drives you.
“I was unbelievably fortunate to meet him early days with Cork Con, and I was blown away, the time he gave me. I suppose seeing the way that he went about his journey and made it work for him shows the character he has.”
Crowley is centrally cast in the ongoing 10 drama but in a break from the speculation of who will start Ireland’s next game, is what happens at the end of this season when his current contract with Munster ends.
Crowley insists his “hands aren’t tied” but again it is playing out in public just as each selection for the Six Nations was like a running commentary on the highs and lows of Test rugby.
Crowley played in all the games in last year’s Six Nations, when Ireland retained the title, but it was Prendergast who started the first four of this year’s campaign. That spawned a library of thesis on who Farrell favoured. Each selection that went against him held the possibility of a crisis and questioned how to safeguard the self-belief.
“I think it’s long before [international] selection,” he says. “That’s part and parcel of when you come into this game. It’s something that you learn to deal with. Like every other player that comes into the squad, right from the start when you’re in provincial and trying to make your first cap, you make that as a big deal, and you might not get the minutes you want.
“So, the situation is always there, and that scenario is always there. For as long as I’m a professional, I’d imagine that will be the case. It’s about having that pre-framed and understanding how you will deal with selection. Everyone deals with it differently. I always want to be able to give my best, whatever situation is in front of me. That’s the way I approach it.”
Consistency, he agrees, would help. Again, believing everything will work out on a given day is folly. It’s another trap he explains. Perfection in a game, or any idea of it, is not attainable. Still, he must strive to attain some form of it and maybe it is as simple as doing most things right for most of the time.
“When you start out you have a desire to absolutely be perfect,” he says. “You have the perfect image in your head of the way you want to play and hope to play at the weekend. But it’s probably the biggest trap you can fall into. It’s about knowing your game and what’s important.”
Crisis? What crisis? La Rochelle in knock-out Champions Cup on Saturday. Just another day.
