Craig Casey will never forget the emotional high after Munster won the 2023 United Rugby Championship (URC) final, defeating defending champions DHL Stormers 19-14 in Cape Town.
Played before an official attendance of 56,334 in DHL Stadium, Munster scrum-half Craig Casey replaced Conor Murray in the 66 minute and was part of a move involving Mike Haley, Jack Crowley and Shane Daly that created the opening for John Hodnett to score a vital try in the closing stages.
“Winning the URC in South Africa was the highlight of my Munster career to date. Growing up around the province and being a Munster fan, you always associate Munster with winning trophies.
“To be part of the team that broke the 12-year drought without a trophy was unbelievable. I want to emulate this a few more times throughout my Munster career,” he said.
Asked how Munster overcome the power and strength of the Stormers, Craig recalled the Reds managed to impose their own game on what was the biggest stage of the URC competition.
“Munster got a trial run against Leinster up in the Avia, it doesn’t get any harder than that. To win the URC, Munster definitively did it the hard way beating Leinster in the semi-final and Stormers, the reigning champions away in the final. It was some way to win the URC.
“It is all about playing your own game and imposing that on the other team.”
Commenting on the arrival of former England prop Graham Rowntree as Munster Head Coach, Craig believes he had changed the way they play and has built up an “unbelievable” coaching staff around the team.
“Graham has really ingrained on us what is like to be a Munster player. We are working hard every single day. There is great competitiveness within the squad and everyone is open with each other. It has been brilliant.
“I try and go in to training and work to get better every day. I want to be the best player on the pitch in training and then bring it into the game on Saturday. It is a brilliant environment to be in,” he said.
Munster has been placed in a tough group for the Champions Cup against Stade Francais, Castres Olympique, Northampton Saints, and Sarcens.
Craig accepted it will be difficult for Munster to get out of this group and qualify for the knockout stages.
“It is always difficult to win in Europe. You have to beat the best to be the best. Growing up the Holy Grail is the European Cup, and qualifying for the final in Cardiff of May 24 is where Munster want to be.
“This is something I have thought about during the off season. It is definitely a target. I don’t think we have talked about it too much yet. It is all about getting a good start in the group games in Europe.
“There will be lots to happen in the URC and the November internationals before this comes around. It is difficult to win the URC and the European Cup, but it is the same for every team.
“To put Munster in the best place in the knockout stages in the European Cup, we want to win all of our group games, that is our focus,” he explained.
Growing up Craig always looked up to former Ireland and Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer.
“I always wanted to be a scrum-half. Peter Stringer was around my own height. I also loved watching Peter Stringer. My uncle Mossy Lawlor was playing for Munster at the time. Mossy is now coaching me and lives quite close to me.
“I would have seen Mossy coming home from training and went training with him. Looking up to Mossy was brilliant. Watching rugby internationals, I would have watched Dan Carter and as I got older, Aaron Smith who I used to look up to.
“You can stray away too much from Anton Dupont to try and emulate the stuff that he does,” he said.
Asked why Anton is regarded by many rugby analysts as the best rugby player in the world, Craig believes it is a mixture of hard work and natural ability.
“From everything I have researched about Anton, he is an unbelievably hard worker. Some of the things he tries on the field, he has trained on them with Toulouse. Some of the things he does is freakish and if I tried to recreate them, I would not be able to do them at all. He is one of a kind,” he explained.
While Craig tries to learn from watching world class players, he is also keen to develop his own game, hone in on this and mix it with what he has learned from the best.
“Munster has some world class players that I am surrounded by every day that I am trying to learn from them as well. They are not just scrum-halves. You can learn multiple things from them and bring them to your own game.”
In 2019, he made his Munster debut as a substitute against Connacht in the closing five minutes of last game of the season at Thomond Park.
“My Munster debut was short but sweet. Growing up around Thomond Park is where you want to play. I got a taste of playing there during schools rugby playing for Ard Scoil Rìs so it wasn’t totally new to me.
“Playing before 26,000 was brilliant,” he recalled.
Going on to the field for any game, Craig never thinks about making mistakes.
Having prepared and recovered well from his preparation before any game, Craig lets his game flow as he knows he has covered all bases. Any time he makes a mistake, he doesn’t dwell on it and gets on to the next job because he believes it will not make a difference for the next task at hand.
Craig was just starting his rugby journey when Conor Murray was coming through the Munster and Ireland ranks as “one of the best number nines in the world”.
“It is hard not to try and emulate what Conor has achieved in the game. He has more than 100 Ireland caps, he has been to four World Cups and three Lions Tours. He has always been in my target seeing what he has achieved and trying to emulate and do better than that.
“Conor has been some help to me since I went into the Munster Academy in 2017. I went in full of questions and he provided me with all the answers. Conor has helped me an awful lot and we have been very good friends. It has been brilliant working with him.
“I was confident coming into the Munster Academy and was competitive straight away with him and he probably realised that. We want everyone in the team to do well, whether that means bouncing things off each other and him learnings some bits off me, he has been great for me and hopefully I have a good help to him and drove him on. He has definitely drove me on.
“We want Munster and Ireland to win, we both love our teams. All we want to do every weekend is win,” he said.
Asked about his thoughts tackling a 18-stone forward during any rugby game, Craig was always the smallest on the team so he had to work on his technique and the fear of tackling a much bigger heavier player never troubled him.
“There is a place for everyone in rugby. As scrum-half, I get my hands on the ball the most and fitness is a big thing for me. There are key strengths and weaknesses for every position. Luckily, I have strengths I can hone in on and not focus on my weaknesses,” he concluded.
Craig as a guest of honour at Scariff RFC recently when he officially opened their new €250,000 indoor astro-turf facility.
The Munster number nine was honoured to open this “incredible facility”, which was one of the first he had seen for a club of its size.
“This facility will be brilliant for all the young rugby players and hopefully we will keep them attached to rugby. I can see there is a lot going on in Scariff between hurling, rugby and soccer.
“My father, Gerry is always telling me about the good work that is going on in Scariff RFC,” he said.
Gerry Casey, is well known in Scariff RFC from his work as Munster Rugby Development Officer for North Munster.
Growing up, Gerry recalled Craig was tiny in stature but still wanted to play every sport.
While Craig always had fun playing rugby, his father stressed he worked very hard to improve his skills.
Starting off with Shannon RFC at the age of five, Craig played hurling, Gaelic Football and soccer at underage level until his secondary school days in Ard Scoil Rís where he decided to concentrate on rugby.
“Craig came from a rugby family. He worked really hard on his game, met really good people and got a few lucky breaks. Because he was and is so small, Craig made a decision to become of the best passers in the world. That is what he wants to be and that is what he is working on.
“That is why he is where he is today. It has been amazing. It is every kid’s dream to play for Ireland,” he said.
Craig’s international debut was against Italy in Rome in 2021, when all the players had to fly home shortly after the game due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“Because Craig was on his own it was more special. He came home the following day with his Ireland cap, which was amazing for myself and my wife.
“On his tenth cap for his start against Italy, 25 of us went back to Rome and celebrated his debut. Every time a person plays for Ireland it is phenomenal. No one expects their son or daughter to play with their country.
“When we go to our games, seeing all the crowd and watching our son play makes it unbelievably special. Craig has shown you don’t have to be a big behemoth to play rugby, everyone can play it. He is living his dream,” he said.
Gerry stressed getting new players from clubs like Skibbereen, Bantry and Waterford is vital for the future development of rugby in the province.
“It is important that club rugby survives in places like Scariff where there is soccer, camogie and hurling. I played with Munster U-18s and U-20s as an outhalf against Connacht in Scariff years ago.
“Having a new astro-turf facility will only encourage more young people in Scariff to play rugby.
“The clubs are the foundation for everything that happens in Irish rugby. A lot of people talk about the All-Ireland League (AIL) back in the nineties but clubs were going before the AIL every started.
“It all starts with the club, that is why clubs like Scariff RFC are so important. That is what makes rugby so special,” he said.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.