Casey Keen To ‘Grow The Group’ During Ireland Tour Captaincy

As someone who has been such an important figure in his life and rugby career, it was no surprise that Craig Casey called his dad Gerry first after learning of his appointment as captain of the Ireland Men’s summer tour squad.

The Munster scrum half has been handed the captaincy reins for Ireland’s two Tests against Georgia and Portugal, with a youthful squad that contains 12 uncapped players being marshalled by interim head coach Paul O’Connell.

The 32 squad members, plus five training panellists, have been hard at work at the IRFU High Performance Centre since last Thursday, and Casey cannot wait to lead the team out against Georgia in Tbilisi on Saturday week.

“When Paulie gave me the call, it was the Tuesday morning (June 3),” the Limerick man told Irish Rugby TV. “The squad came out on the Wednesday, so it was kind of nice to know the day before.

“Really, really good phone call. Probably on the phone for about 10 to 15 minutes, the way Paulie is, talking about all the plans for the summer and what we need to improve on, and what has been good over the last few weeks.

“I was honoured. He asked me straight away, so kind of got that part out of the way and it was a nice honour for me. I’m absolutely delighted with it.

“I got off the phone and rang my father and told him to tell no one, obviously! But no, it was brilliant. My father has been huge for me growing up. He’s probably the reason that I’m here.

“He was my coach from Under-5s to Under-18s, so to be able to ring him and tell him I’m going to be Irish captain, I can imagine was absolutely massive for him.”

Gerry, a Rugby Development Officer with Munster Rugby, has been there every step of the way, first helping to foster his son’s passion and love for the game when coaching him at Shannon RFC and Ardscoil Rís. ‘Dad put a hell of a lot into me’, in Craig’s own words.

The family’s connection to Shannon runs deep, with Craig having grown up around All-Ireland League title-winning Shannon teams, which Gerry was involved with as a coach, and his uncle Mossy (Lawler) wearing the colours of the Limerick club and Munster with great pride.

The sporting genes are especially strong on the Lawler side, with his mum Sinéad having represented Ireland in gymnastics, passing on an infectiously diligent approach to training and performing on big days. Sister Aimee took that on too as a multiple All-Ireland medal-winning gymnast.

Sinéad’s late father, Pat, was a renowned rugby player in Limerick, and UL Bohemian RFC host an annual national cup competition in his honour each year, which Craig played in during his underage days. Mossy, Munster’s current skills coach, also maintained the family link with Bohs as a player and director of rugby.

It was in those formative years, rising through the ranks at Ardscoil Rís where Mossy was actually his first gym coach, that the 26-year-old half-back emerged as a standard setter and a vocal leader in his own right.

2017 saw him captain his school in the Munster Schools Senior Cup and an Ireland Under-18 Schools squad that included Ryan Baird and Thomas Clarkson, who are also bound for Tbilisi and Lisbon next month.

Casey was vice-captain in 2019 when the Ireland U-20s were impressive Grand Slam winners of the U-20 Six Nations. It spoke much about his powers of recovery and will to succeed that he made his mark at U-20 level after coming back from three surgeries on back and knee injuries.

He was out of the game for 14 months but returned in brilliant fashion to play seven times for the Ireland U-20s and make his senior debut for Munster. It is that physical robustness and continual ability to grow his game that have seen him establish himself at the highest level.

He has not looked back since, winning his first Ireland senior cap against Italy in 2021 and subsequently two Guinness Men’s Six Nations titles, lifting the BKT United Rugby Championship trophy with Munster in 2023, and joining the province’s prized 100-cap club last month against Benetton.

Casey has been around a number of influential captains, including Jonathan Sexton during his first Rugby World Cup in France in 2023. He said there have been ‘lots of lads that you can pick up lots of things from’ in terms of developing and honing his own captaincy style.

“The obvious ones are Caelan (Doris), Pete (O’Mahony), and Johnny (Sexton). I think I’ve learned an awful amount from them just from being around them and living in their pockets for the last few years in camp.

“I think you see how they kind of work on a day-to-day basis, not just as a leader but as themselves, because that’s probably going to be important to me to be the best version of myself on the field when we play Georgia and Portugal.

“I think my performance is probably the biggest thing, and I think how those lads look after their performances is a huge thing while also looking after the whole squad. I’ve taken a lot from that.”

The former Munster Academy and Young Player of the Year, who also captained Ireland ‘A’ in 2022, added: “Obviously Tadhg (Beirne) has been the captain of Munster this year and I think he’s done a phenomenal job for us.

“There’s been a few things that I will take from him, but I think you take stuff from everyone. There’s been leaders that probably haven’t been captain, haven’t been lucky enough to be captain over the last few years, and they’re really, really good leaders in their own right.

“There’s a good group that I’ve learned an awful lot from over the last few years, so hopefully I can take that forward and grow the group over the summer and really make it a special place to be.”

While O’Connell takes on the head coach role in the absence of Andy Farrell, who is leading the British & Irish Lions along with three of his assistant coaches from the Ireland senior set-up, there is a similar onus on Casey to set the tone on the pitch.

He has liked what he has seen so far from a squad that has some experienced campaigners in the likes of Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, and Baird, but a fresh influx of hungry uncapped players too, with Stephen Smyth and Hugh Gavin the youngest of the bunch at 20 and 21 respectively.

Casey commented: “I think the buzz around the group is class. We came in and had a tough session last Thursday, but it was nice to kind of get back up and running and get the new lads into the group.

“You can see how, I would say, passionate they are about playing for Ireland, and trying to put their best foot forward. It’s exciting. It’s three weeks on the trot here (at the HPC) and we’re all really looking forward to it.”