Jack Crowley doesn't normally fly under the radar in his young yet promising rugby career. However, his links to ROG’s high flying La Rochelle went unnoticed until O'Gara himself wrote about his interest in the Bandon number 10.
Crowley has been behind Ben Healy, who also turned some heads with his potential move away from the southern province, and from the reports these are genuine advances from other clubs. They aren’t just your usual antics from players trying to get contracts at this time of year, particularly with the delay on all Irish contracts.
It’s a mark of respect for both players and a sign that the Munster academy is producing again. The Leinster academy is clearly the standard for developing youth, although many will claim it is a population and numbers game, much like Dublin GAA, but I don’t usually get in to those politics. Regardless of numbers, schools and 'money’, there’s a system in place and it’s been successful in the last number of years, with Leinster-born players representing in all corners of the country.
Being approached by a professional team outside of your home province is always a difficult one, especially for players who aren’t actually out of favour, but are yet to get their full opportunity to have the starting jersey for a sustained period of time. They’re still in a development stage with fruitful careers ahead of them.
My only experience with a move away from Munster was a funny fabrication of the truth and I was never actually sure where it came from. Rumours of my departure from Munster to follow former backs coach Simon Mannix to Pau were unfounded. I hadn’t even begun to negotiate a contract, nor had I any informal conversations to suggest that I was interested in a move away from home.
In all honesty, I still don’t know what spurred me to play rugby professionally. Things fall into place when you’re trying to decide which sport to pursue and once you get on the pathway you develop a stubborn, competitive nature that forces you to follow through with it or face being a failure at something that you put an enormous amount of effort into. Is it the love of the game or sheer determination to succeed at something that seemed right? I’m not sure if it was my dream to be a professional rugby player or solely to be a Munster rugby player. Munster is my home province, a team that myself and my family supported closely and a big part of our lives at that time.
I was never actually forced to make the career decision to go against Munster for the sake of a better career. That can be seen as a positive and a negative. I wasn’t in high demand when I was turning 21 like Crowley in the last few weeks.
It’s nice to be noticed, and noticed by a legendary Munster man, world renowned out-half and one of the greatest coaching prospects that promises to return to this country someday.
And then on the other hand, you have your family, your comfort zone, your competitive nature and your absolute determination to play in your home jersey. Can the pride be the same when you move elsewhere? Of course, every club has the ability to welcome you and make you feel like you’re part of their plans. But that’s a gamble and an unknown from the time you sign until the day you notice that you’ve made the right or wrong decision. It’s a leap of faith and the hope of being welcomed to another place with the same ambition and alignment to achieve the same goals.
I don’t envy the likes of Crowley and Healy. Others like Jordi Murphy, John Cooney, Conor Oliver, Sean Cronin, they all left for other Irish provinces. Yet even at that, I feel it’s different. You can leave with a chip on your shoulder to return to your home province and show them what they’re missing with the guarantee that you’re not left out of the Irish system.
As I’ve grown older and left the game from a playing point of view, I can see what others mean when they say you should be open to opportunities abroad. A chance to develop your rugby career and yourself as a businessman, a sole trader. You’re the only one really vying for your own success. You have to make the right decisions for you. Everything else has become business. Business with a subjective view when operating in your own province, but after that it’s just business.
Yet, when you’re in the bubble of your home province or the club that have backed you, it’s much harder to be objective. I don’t know what I’d have done if I was given a positive opportunity to move abroad. I don’t know how I would have reacted either if I had been backed into a corner and given the decision to leave my home province to extend my career. For some lads, it isn’t worth it. It’s time to move on and join the 'normal' workforce and get a 'normal. job, which I fully respect.
In one way, I’m happy I never had to make a decision as tough as leaving home. The other side of me sees a lost opportunity to experience a different culture, way of playing, way of living and stepping outside a comfort zone that I was too happy and proud to be in.
I don’t know how obsessed my family and friends would have been with my career had it not been in the red of Munster. It’s something I can’t experience now, but it’s interesting to put yourself in these lads’ shoes. Try to visualise what would have been going through your head. What’s the most important thing to you, your hometown, your family, your shared pride? Or is it just a professional career in a sport that you enjoy?
Whatever happens, the players' decision is always the right one. No amount of hindsight should change your analysis of that. You make a decision at any given moment based on the facts and feelings that you have at that time. And if you’re unsure of the outcome, you work harder to force that outcome into existence.
It’s going to be interesting as we watch these decisions play out in the next year or two at Munster. With JJ Hanrahan’s performances and control of the 10 jersey, and the return of Joey Carbery in 2021, there’s a lot of competition at out-half in Munster.
