You want to know who’s becoming a Big Player for Munster?
Don’t look at social media. That’s all light, no heat. Go to Virgin Media Park or Thomond Park, and look for which names get that loud cheer after it’s read out by Ken Perrott.
Peter O’Mahony? Big cheer.
Conor Murray? Big cheer.
Tadhg Beirne? Big cheer.
Jack Crowley? Big cheer.
Craig Casey. Big cheer.
***
Here’s a little thing for you that you can either believe or not; it’s up to you.
Midway through my second season doing TRK, I was watching the Munster Senior Cup and, in particular, the semi-final of that season in Thomond Park: Glenstal Abbey (with Ben Healy at #10) and Ardscoil Rís with Craig Casey captaining from #9.
Casey stood out immediately because (1) he was short and I know all about short because my dad is 5’2″, (b) he had a pass action on him like Aaron Smith, and (c) he kicked goals. He was the smallest guy on the pitch – not for the first or last time – but he played bigger than anyone, not for the first or last time either. I said to myself, watching it, that this guy would play for Ireland.
And he did.
He made the Munster Academy that summer but almost immediately suffered two serious knee injuries that would keep him out for 14 months, costing him his first year of Irish 20s.
When he recovered just before the 2019 U20 Six Nations, then head coach Noel McNamara had seen enough from Casey in training to name him vice-captain of the squad. When I saw Casey play that Spring, I said to myself, watching it, that this guy was going to captain Munster and Ireland one day.
Why? This tackle.
I know – a little hasty of me. But go back and watch that U20 Six Nations if you ever get the chance, and you’ll see Casey showing exactly why he would go on to become a key leader for Munster. Aggression. Standard setting. A fuck you attitude that every top player, and especially every top scrumhalf needs. An absolute monster when it came to the basic skills of his position. It sounds like a given to say about a scrumhalf, but it really isn’t in the modern game, where some scrumhalves are essentially wingers with a passing game.
Casey is a pass-first scrumhalf, and he’s got the kind of elite passing consistency that instantly marks him out as something a little different. I mentioned Aaron Smith earlier and, sure, it’s a big comparison, but so much of what Casey does well is modelled on Smith, even down to elements of his pass release and box kick style.
For me, his ascension to the senior Munster squad was a matter of when, not if. That he managed that initial breakthrough under Van Graan, who was more than a little fussy over backing young lads over the long term, says it all. He has always been the real deal.
So when Casey was named as the captain of Ireland’s summer tour to Portugal and Georgia, it didn’t shock me in the slightest. Of course he was. Anyone I’ve ever spoken to about Casey behind the scenes for both Munster and Ireland all tell me the same thing: he’s got charisma, he’s got big energy, he works like an absolute demon, and he doesn’t accept coming second best for the want of effort or attention to detail.
He leads from the front, by example, and in the team room. Ask anyone around Munster about him, from players to coaches, to people working in the office, if you want testimonials.
Quite simply, he’s been a captain since the day he walked into the HPC and putting that (c) next to his name on a teamsheet merely shows that officially.
***
When Casey was helped off the field earlier this season against Castres, it had the bang of a season-ender about it. I have a feeling that for many players with Craig Casey’s history of knee injuries that it easily could have been, but within a week, I knew he’d be back before the estimate in the squad update.
It’s what he does.
So instead of manically focusing on the game, Casey would instead manically focus on getting back to it. No stone would be left unturned, nothing would be left to chance. If working hard could get him back sooner, he’d work harder than anyone to do it. So that’s what he did.
You’ve probably watched the little series Munster did on his rehab journey on Access Munster; if not, you should check it out. But even then, you don’t even see the half of it. The extras he did at home to make sure he was ahead of the recovery curve alone would have you sweating. The guy is a manic worker.
That sets a standard. Other guys see how hard he’s working in the rehab room, the extras he’s doing at home, and they think, “maybe I could be doing more”. That permeates everything about how Casey operates as a leader, both in the Munster leadership group and as a guy growing in influence on the national stage.
He joins James Ryan in the players this decade who could (and maybe should) have toured with the Lions, but must instead lead a developmental tour around T2 nations. A bit like James Ryan, I have a feeling that Casey is maybe one injury away from a callup, right being right, but Lions tours are notoriously difficult to predict when it comes to what the head coach will do to keep the blend of his squad stable when it comes to callups.
My own opinion is that if Casey was fit this Spring, he probably would have got at least three appearances backing up Gibson Park in the same manner that he did so well against Australia in the November Series. Maybe missing the Six Nations, plus a few geopolitical decisions elsewhere in the squad, stung him when it counted. His run of performances from Connacht in Casement Park up to that loss to Sharks in Durban to finish the season was of a high enough quality where you’ve got to think he was close to getting that call from Farrell.
I’d say it’s worth Casey keeping his phone off silent for the next few weeks, but, regardless, Casey will do what he always does, whether it’s in Portugal, Georgia or Australia, and that’s lead by example.
