Jack Crowley: 'Please God that when it comes to Christmas, I’ll be fully fit'

JACK CROWLEY REMAINS hopeful of returning from injury in the Christmas/New Year period.

However, the Munster and Ireland out-half acknowledged that uncertainty lingers around a lower-limb vascular issue that has kept him sidelined since April.

“Please God that when it comes to Christmas, I’ll be fully fit,” he said.

“To speak generically, I think every injury or every problem, like, there’s a blueprint and you’re like, ‘This is ideally how we want it to go.’ But you hear of lads that are scheduled to come back from a hamstring and something comes up and they’re pushed back six weeks, or they’re out with a hamstring and a calf goes.

“This is my first time in a period where I’ll go through a return to play and who knows what way my body will respond? That’s just the nature of it. So right now, I don’t know, being perfectly honest with you, but in terms of once I’m fully fit and healthy, then it is just fully fit and healthy to go.”

Lack of certainty has been the defining issue with this injury, described by Munster boss Clayton McMillan as a “narrowing of the [blood] vessel.” Since his last game against Benetton in April, Crowley was named in two Munster URC line-ups – against Ulster and the Lions in May – only to pull out. Crowley described the debilitating nature of the issue, saying that he “tried to go out to run and kick and I couldn’t.”

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Despite the physical limitations being clear, Crowley is not sure what actually caused the injury. “It’s an unknown really with that. That’s something that probably would have helped the diagnosis quicker.

“It could be two things. It could be an accumulation of time and wear and tear or it could have just been a once-off incident. But I suppose we weren’t aware of either and it just came about.”

The injury could hardly have come at a worse time for Crowley. As well as missing the end of Munster’s season, alongside the start of the latest URC and Champions Cup campaigns, he missed Ireland’s three Tests in July and will be absent for the November window. This after he won back the starting out-half jersey in his long-running battle with Sam Prendergast. Any frustration at the turn of events is not evident in Crowley’s comments.

“Being truthful with it, it’s [the injury] has probably highlighted more my love for the game because being in and around the building, still as keen as ever to input to the group and to help lads grow and help my game stay up to scratch… like, watching rugby, you see it from a different perspective.

“I’d be a deep thinker in terms of utilising time and space as best as I can to just be a better person day in, day out. And I suppose a period like this has given me time to reflect on that.

“Ultimately, that’ll hopefully make me a better teammate and a better person in day to day. You do reflect and you reflect every time you try and grow, because that’s the only way you can is look back on areas that you want to get even better at and how do you do that? It’s been a good period, a lot of time to myself.”

Despite not training with Munster – Crowley is not yet at a stage where he is running – he has allowed Munster’s younger out-halves, the likes of Tom Wood and Charlie O’Shea, to lean into his experience.

“Of course. They’re two unbelievably talented young players. Whether I was playing or not in training, in terms of environment, it’s massive for lads that have experience and whatnot that can help lads out.

“But equally, it’s also up to young lads to go about asking people how they can improve if they want to and go about it. So it’s a two-way street. And the two lads have been brilliant, curious. Likewise, you know, you learn something from them as well. We’re not always right. It’s just our opinion.”

Crowley was speaking in the same week that former teammate Peter O’Mahony criticised Munster’s leadership. While promoting his new autobiography, O’Mahony outlined his opinion that the province was not well run and that change was needed in its governance. Crowley was asked if the current squad is sufficiently supported for success.

“Yeah, absolutely. It’s obviously out there that there’s the review [Munster’s independent governance and organisational review], so that’s going on. 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 kind of sense of connection and moving forward together. We’ll see what will come of that.”