THE LAST WORD: If this is Jack Crowley's base camp, his summit will be incredible to watch

IF this Six Nations was Jack Crowley’s audition for the lead role as Ireland’s No. 10, then he nailed it. The job is his.

The noise before a ball was kicked in the tournament surrounded how this Irish rugby team would survive the next chapter of their story: Life After Johnny Sexton. During the long goodbye last year the contenders for the jersey were jostling for position, all eager to get the first go. Like the schoolkids in the lunch-time soccer game, being picked first means something; you’re the best option. That holds true here: Crowley is the best option. Andy Farrell thought so, too.

Being tasked to fill the void left by Ireland’s greatest-ever outhalf can weigh heavy on a man’s shoulders, as can the expectancy of a nation growing used to an Irish rugby team winning every game, but they build them tough and hardy in Innishannon. His grounding in Bandon Rugby Club and Bandon Grammar also stood him in good stead – he has the steel to back up the swagger. Crowley never flinched or took a step back.

The shadow of Sexton could have loomed large if he let it, but there’s an important distinction to make – Crowley is not Sexton 2.0. He’s his own man, and he has to be to survive at heights where the oxygen is thinner and only the best survive. 

He embraced the challenge, and has emerged the far side of his first proper Six Nations as Ireland’s first-choice No 10. Ronan O’Gara – and he would know – saw enough after Ireland’s first three Six Nations games to nail his colours to the Crowley mast.

‘Within three games the debate over who plays 10 for Ireland is over, it’s shut, it’s dead. You talk about someone opening the door – he has kicked the door down and he has made the position his own,’ O’Gara stated, referencing Crowley’s X-factor. Game recognises game. By then the West Cork man had grown up in his first Six Nations start, at the Stade Velodrome against France, bouncing back from a few mistakes to pull the strings in the second half. He scored his first senior try in the win against Italy and that was a timely reminder of the newness and shininess of Crowley – he had never even scored a try for Munster before that touchdown in the Aviva. Next up, he starred again against Wales, finishing with a 100 percent record from placed balls. O’Gara had seen enough by then.

‘This guy is on the way up, big time,’ Crowley’s fellow Corkman predicted, and that’s the key point to remember: he’s on the way up, emphasis being he was a Six Nations rookie this season. The Munster outhalf only turned 24 in January and is at the start of his Ireland career. He made his first start for Munster in October 2021, and two and a half years later he is Ireland’s first-choice No. 10. That’s a huge rise in such a short time. 

Jack Crowley celebrates Ireland's Six Nations success on Saturday with family and friends from Innishannon.

He’s still learning and developing and improving, and we all see three traits during the Six Nations. That’s why his story is exciting because his arc suggests he’s only moving one way: up, like O’Gara predicts. 

Within the last year reigning West Cork Sports Star of the Year Crowley has steered Munster to URC glory, played in a World Cup and now won a Six Nations as first-choice No. 10, finishing as the competition’s third top scorer on 52 points (only Thomas Ramos, 63, and Finn Russell, 53, scored more). If this is base camp, then his summit will be incredible to watch unfold.

To play every minute of his first Six Nations tournament as a starter also highlights the management’s trust in Crowley, and they, like him, will know as seamlessly as he slotted in, there’s room for improvement and growth. The Bandon RFC prodigy finished with 74 percent kicking accuracy, and that needs to push up into the high 80s. There are kickable kicks he’ll know he should have made. There were wrong decisions, too, during games, kicking when he shouldn’t have, and poor execution at times as well. But he’s learning on the job in front of us all in a team that fans now expect to win, that’s a pressure us normal folk can’t even imagine. 

‘It wasn't perfect,’ Crowley said after last weekend’s title-clinching win against Scotland. ‘There is an expectation to rise to the level. As an individual you just need to bring your own game and deliver to what the team needs and at times there were mistakes and whatnot but I have the backing of the group and to play in this group is special. I was very happy.’

Crowley seems unfazed by it all, because he’s not getting swept away in the hype. He might have played every minute of the Six Nations, but as Andy Farrell said after the Scotland game, he’s hard on the West Cork man for a reason.

‘It’s incredible, isn’t it? And do you know what? Jack’s a realist. And do you know what? I have been hard on him, we (coaches) have. Jack will tell you that because it’s easy to read the press, isn’t it, with you guys, and get carried away, “I’m doing it and I’m doing it really well”. But we’ve kept his feet on the ground,’ Farrell explained, and knowing that he can and must improve, Crowley’s in a good place right now. He has the No. 10 jersey, and he has the ability to keep it if he keeps rising to the challenges put in front of him. And there will be plenty – the summer tour to the World Cup champions South Africa will be another steep learning experience, but just what he needs. 

Those challenges are everywhere. Closer to home, too. Just this week Munster signed Billy Burns for next season. Munster head coach Graham Rowntree explained: ‘I want him to challenge Jack.’ The thinking is the competition will force Crowley to hit new heights, and that’s good news for Crowley, Munster and Ireland. He passed his audition, and now he needs to make the lead role his own.