Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Munster out-half Jack Crowley.Billy Stickland/INPHO AnalysisNumber 10 Munster's Jack Crowley cleverly bosses the Test in the West The out-half kicked intelligently, showed his running threat, and tackled strongly. 7.31pm, 31 Mar 2025 Share options CONNACHT HAVE JUST turned the ball over wide on their left and Jack Crowley is scanning for space. The Munster out-half calls on his forwards to carry infield twice, popping the ball to the impactful Fineen Wycherley for the lock to nudge his nose through contact on the second of those carries. As he swings around behind the carry, Crowley spots his chance. He calls for the ball from halfback partner Craig Casey and sparks a brilliant burst of attack that ends with Tom Ahern scoring wide on the left 20 seconds later. Crowley’s chip kick is deft as he lifts the ball in behind the advancing Connacht frontline. Darragh Murray is close to him as Crowley kicks off the outside of his right foot, having lifted his leg up to meet the ball rather than dropping it down lower towards his foot, which means he can get the ball away quickly and not put too much hangtime on it. Crowley doesn’t have a big follow-through after making a connection with the ball, again helping it to come back down to ground quicker and improving the chances it’ll sit up for an onrushing team-mate. The Munster out-half is clattered just after kicking, but fullback Ben O’Connor races through and calmly gathers the ball after its second bounce – Josh Ioane belatedly closing up from the Connacht backfield. Crowley’s clever kick gives Munster major attacking momentum and they swing the ball left on the next phase, with the out-half working hard to get across after bouncing up from the ground. A string of passes from right to left sees Crowley get the ball as he swings outside openside flanker John Hodnett. And the Munster number 10 does an excellent job of giving explosive blindside Tom Ahern a shot at finishing. It’s tempting for Crowley to instantly catch and pass, but watch how he delays, squaring up to Santiago Cordero’s inside shoulder to hold him from passing to Ahern. That delay means Ahern can accelerate past the despairing reach of Cordero and the Waterford man blasts through Connacht fullback Mack Hansen for an emphatic finish. These two influential Crowley touches were part of an imposing performance by the 25-year-old Munster playmaker as he and Casey maturely bossed proceedings at MacHale Park. Munster kicked in play 28 times compared to Connacht’s 14, with Crowley kicking from hand 13 times and Casey contributing nine kicks. In contrast, Connacht halfbacks Caolin Blade and Josh Ioane kicked just five times between them. Crowley’s kicking in play began with a strong wind-assisted clearance after Ioane missed touch with a penalty in the opening minute. Crowley’s long kicking was good in this game as he used the brisk wind to good effect on a number of occasions. He unleashed a long spiral kick at one stage, with an excellent Munster kick chase then pinning Connacht behind their own 10-metre line. Crowley’s highlights included a beautifully-executed 50:22 kick that allowed 14-man Munster into position to extend their lead just before half time. They have a scrum just inside their own half – fertile ground for attempting a 50:22 – and Casey’s involvement is important in creating space for Crowley’s kick. Watch below how Munster use ‘channel one’ ball down the left-hand side of the scrum to allow Casey to shape for a pass to that side. It’s subtle from Casey, who then ducks back to the right, but this helps to shape the Connacht backfield defence. Hansen is out of shot in the backfield but he has to worry about covering space out to his right if Cordero [yellow below] closes up. Hansen then has to react to Munster’s play shifting back to his left. Simultaneously, Connacht left wing Finn Treacy [red below] has to advance to deal with the running threat, which obviously leaves space behind. Crowley has swung over to Munster’s right and assesses the situation well, rolling a firm grubber kick in behind with enough power to find the touchline in the Connacht 22. We can see Hansen accelerating out to his left in a bid to catch up but Crowley’s kick wins the race and Munster get a lineout in the Connacht 22. Crowley calls for calm as he slows things down and engages with lineout leader Tadhg Beirne. Munster’s leaders decide on a simple, effective approach as they back their maul to do damage before carrying narrow off scrum-half Casey. The strategy proves successful as Connacht give up a penalty for failing to roll away from a tackle. Crowley slots three points and Munster lead 18-5. Munster continued with a simple, effective approach in the second half as they generally carried close to the ruck and used their kicking game to turn Connacht. Crowley was central to it all. Advertisement The example above comes from a Connacht knock-on when Munster are down to 13 players due to Beirne’s sin-binning, with Crowley nudging the ball in behind to put the hosts under immediate pressure. It’s another well-weighted kick as the ball sits up close to the Connacht tryline and allows Munster to chase. Tom Farrell tackles Hansen and Crowley comes close to earning a turnover. Even still, Connacht are left under intense pressure. Crowley had another excellent kick during that spell when Munster were down to 13. The southern province are in multi-phase attack and making very little progress as Crowley passes to Farrell and loops around to take a return ball. With Ioane having closed up from the Connacht backfield towards the right edge of their defence… … Crowley rolls a grubber in behind and gives it enough power to find touch just metres from the Connacht tryline. Crowley is predominantly a right-footed kicker but his left-footed grubber shows that he has been working on his kicking off both sides. It leaves exactly where Munster want to be when down to 13 players and trying to protect their 11-point lead. Crowley generally brought nice variety to his kicking game, sprinkling in a few hanging garryowens to test Connacht aerially. Crowley gets great hangtime on the effort above and with the ball catching in the wind, Ioane struggles to get a perfect read on it, knocking on to give Munster a platform that leads to their fourth try. It wasn’t a perfect outing from Crowley as an early grubber kick rolled dead when Munster could have kept the ball in hand with space beckoning, but it was a highly polished and intelligent kicking performance. He converted two of Munster’s four tries and added two penalties from the tee, as well as offering a couple of good restarts. This towering restart allows Ahern to win the ball back as Connacht struggle to deal with it – a consistent theme recently. It’s the perfect response from Munster to having just conceded a try to Connacht, and this restart regain leads to Crowley’s own try. The Munster out-half offered a consistent threat with ball in hand in Mayo. It was a superb pass from Casey that sent Crowley over to score, the scrum-half fizzing the ball across the face of four Connacht defenders and Munster wing Seán O’Brien to find his out-half. Casey’s wide pass gets the ball outside Hugh Gavin and allows Crowley to cross untouched, soon after the out-half nearly darted over with a show of his footwork. Crowley showed his turn of pace for a second-half linebreak. Initially, he hits Calvin Nash with a switch pass as Munster play to their right. As Nash carries, Crowley swings back over to 13-man Munster’s left, recognising that he has more team-mates on their feet or retreating back into the line on that side. Crowley then calls for a sweep pass from loosehead prop Josh Wycherley, who fluidly pulls the ball out the back to allow Crowley to show his pace. Crowley gets an offload back from O’Brien. Crowley gets wrapped up in a choke tackle by Ioane and Sean Jansen here, failing to get his knee down to the ground to indicate a completed tackle, but it’s clearly still a fine outcome for Munster when they’re down to 13. Inishannon man Crowley was involved in the other two Munster tries. For the first, Crowley sent centre Alex Nankivell thundering at the Connacht defence before playing a ball out the back to Nash on second phase, the Munster right wing barelling through Cordero to feed Casey on the inside for the opening try. Crowley’s role in Barron’s bonus-point clinching score was more about his penchant for getting stuck in physically. Watch below as Crowley makes a clearout on Hansen as the Connacht fullback threatens to poach the ball. On the next phase, Barron dominates the collision with Aki to score. Crowley isn’t a huge fella at 6ft 1ins and around 90kg but he relishes getting stuck into contact. His clearout in the instance above underlines that he’s no passenger. Crowley’s tackling is a point of difference. Every out-half is targeted by opposition teams given their relative lack of size, but Crowley is a strong defender. His first tackle at MacHale Park was an effective low chop on Aki as Connacht looked for instant gainline progress on first phase of a scrum attack. Aki wants to drive into the space between Crowley and Casey, who is working across from the scrum. But Crowley’s low tackle takes Aki’s legs away and denies Connacht the gainline. They continue to play with ball in hand despite the lack of go-forward and eventually concede a penalty as Gavin is pinged for rolling on the ground after being tackled. Crowley brought great intent defensively against Connacht, as illustrated in the tackle on Hansen below. Munster are well stacked in terms of numbers on their feet in the shortside and Crowley recognises the chance to bring great linespeed, winning the gainline for his team with another snappy tackle. However, Crowley, Nash, and Casey were unable to stop the rampaging Jansen for Connacht’s opening try from a five-metre tap penalty. The tap routine saw Connacht targeting the Munster backs in the shortside, with Shamus Hurley-Langton latching onto the explosive Jansen to add even more power and bulk to the collision. Munster’s trio of backs are no match for the Connacht power. Jansen scores. But Crowley continued to throw himself into battles throughout. In the instance above, the temptation for Crowley is to bite in on the pacy Ioane as he threatens the outside shoulder of Munster tighthead prop Oli Jager. But Crowley shows trust in Jager by staying out on Connacht hooker Dave Heffernan, who receives the short pass from Ioane. Heffernan has greater power but Crowley does enough to bring him to ground, suddenly opening the door for Farrell to jackal for a turnover penalty. As well as defending well in the Munster frontline, Crowley did a good job from the backfield. In the instance below, Connacht threaten wide on Munster’s left so Crowley closes up from the backfield where he has been covering possible kick space. Crowley’s proactivity means Cordero doesn’t have much time on the ball, even if it’s still the kind of one-on-one situation in which the Argentina wing can thrive. But Crowley denies him space by continuing to close on Cordero, rather than sitting onto his heels and allowing Cordero to dictate. Crowley dips in low and manages to lift Cordero’s legs, driving him back and forcing a loose offload. On the next Connacht carry, Munster earn a turnover. In the example below, Connacht run the ball from deep in their own 22 as Crowley closes up from the backfield. In this situation, it’s the backfield defender’s job to get to the widest attacker and Crowley is initially moving out towards Connacht left wing Treacy. But as Hansen’s pace takes him outside Gavin Coombes, Crowley has to react to turn in. Crowley does a good job with a low tackle on Hansen to quell the Connacht breakout and give Munster a chance to recover. It’s another impactful defensive effort from Crowley on a day when he brought great control in the number 10 shirt. He and Munster will be hoping for more of the same against La Rochelle this weekend in the Champions Cup. Murray Kinsella Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Munster's Jack Crowley cleverly bosses the Test in the West”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Munster's Jack Crowley cleverly bosses the Test in the West”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. 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