Opinion: The Jack Crowley ‘solution’ Ireland must trial against Wales
Should Ireland look at Jack Crowley at full-back?
International rugby fans can rejoice as the Six Nations will return on Saturday, after a weekend where the club game took centre stage.
Cardiff is the destination where the short hiatus will end when the Irish come to the Welsh capital.
Wales have not been given the faintest of hopes to claim a win as Ireland look to continue their march towards making history, becoming the first nation to win three titles outright in a row.
As massive favourites for the fixture, some fans and pundits may believe it is the perfect fixture to ring the changes and give some players more international experience.
While this is an interesting prospect to give the likes of Gavin Coombes, Cian Prendergast and Jamie Osborne further experience at the highest level, Simon Easterby should not bring this into his consideration.
Easterby calls
Ireland‘s ‘strongest’ side that comprehensively beat Scotland in Murrayfield will not have played a match of rugby for a month by the time they face France, no matter how great the training sessions may be it cannot compare to an international test, albeit against Wales.
Easterby is a shrewd operator and it is not expected he will make a lot of changes apart from those that are forced upon him; captain Caelan Doris being ruled out as an example.
Munster and Irish fans may expect Jack Crowley to start at fly-half to replace Sam Prendergast.
However, this should not be the case.
Crowley should start at full-back for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it is important that Prendergast continue at number 10 to give him further experience at this level of rugby before the showdown with France in Dublin two weeks later.
He needs to continue leading the Irish side against Wales to further increase his comfort and experience ahead of the French challenge.
Further to this, the 22-year-old needs to build on his fantastic performance against Scotland, where he showed signs of his immense talent, particularly in his kicking, bringing the ball to the line, and his range of passing against Scotland to earn him the man of the match award.
However, his tackling and physicality were once again questioned during the match.
A terrible attempt to tackle Ben White for Scotland’s second try will have been noticed by Easterby, and the interim head coach will have analysed that moment over and over again on Monday to help develop Prendergast defensively.
The Leinster player is more than willing to put his body in for a tackle, but this is now the second highlighted incident regarding poor tackling, after the tucked-in-arm tackle he made during the Fiji match that resulted in him receiving a yellow card.
The only way to see any improvement in this part of his game is if he starts the Wales match.
Unfortunately, this means Crowley must start from somewhere else or from the bench.
The solution, full-back.
In the win against Scotland, the Munster man did come off the bench and play this position as Hugo Keenan was moved to right wing with Calvin Nash being substituted.
Crowley is a utility player, with the ability to play fly-half, centre and full-back, making him the perfect option on the bench when Ireland decides to go with a 6/2 split.
This tactic from the bench was exposed during Ireland’s last Six Nations game when Scotland were forced into changes with injuries to Darcy Graham and Finn Russell, leading to Gregor Townsend putting square pegs into round holes.
The need for a utility player when adopting this tactic is imperative, and so having Crowley on the bench for this moving forward is great.
Though he does need minutes playing these positions, starting him against Wales at 15 would give much-needed game time in this position to further the Irish cause.
Crowley has played this position with Munster on a number of occasions, but by becoming the first-choice fly-half at the Red Army, his chances at centre and full-back have lessened.
So, Easterby should give Crowley the minutes in this position to further his ability to play this role at the highest level.
While he gathers this experience it will also allow Easterby to experiment with different set-pieces and attacking shapes as he will have two playmakers on the pitch.
As witnessed with Fin and Marcus Smith playing 10 and 15, respectively, against France as the English earned a surprise victory over Les Bleus.
Steve Borthwick’s side were able to cause confusion in the French defence as they had a number of options in which to attack and create, something Easterby may look to experiment with against weaker opponents.
The final reason would be the need to explore further options at full-back should Keenan get injured.
The Leinster full-back has been incredibly consistent since breaking into the Ireland team back in 2020, firstly as a winger before making 15 his jersey in the 2021 Six Nations campaign.
Keenan back-up
The 28-year-old was only notably absent during the Irish tour of South Africa last summer as he decided to feature at the 2024 Olympics in Paris with the Irish 7s.
Osborne filled the position in these two Tests against the current world champions, impressing and easing Irish concerns about replacements for Keenan.
Many fans may want to see Osborne get further minutes at 15 against Wales, giving Keenan a rest, but it is imperative Crowley starts here this weekend.
Two options for a position are not enough at international level, and so the need for another player to be trusted here is vital, so Crowley should be tested for a sustained period against international opponents.
While this may not be the desired position for the 25-year-old, with number 10 being his desired jersey, Crowley is a team player and will want to do the best thing for his country.
The Munster man is an intelligent rugby player and will know just how key he would be for Ireland tactically as they edge closer towards the 2027 World Cup in Australia, with Crowley offering Andy Farrell’s side another approach as an option off the bench as a fly-half, as a creative alternative at full-back, or as a versatile tactical option in a 6/2 split.
The Ireland squad has yet to be announced ahead of the match with Wales, and it will be interesting to see if Easterby continues with the squad that has brought him two wins from two with the possibility to lift the Triple Crown this weekend or if he will experiment slightly to trial things with an eye on long-term success for the Boys In Green past this Six Nations.
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