Ireland great Gordon D’Arcy has suggested that Ireland’s system has become antiquated and needs to ‘evolve’ following the Jack Crowley controversy.

The fly-half is currently the province’s first choice fly-half by a distance and will compete with Sam Prendergast for the Ireland number 10 role in the Six Nations.

However, Crowley was surprisingly left out of Munster’s 23 for their huge clash against Leinster, denying him the opportunity to go head-to-head against his main rival for the national team jersey.

In his absence, Prendergast shone, earning the man of the match award as the Dublin-based outfit secured a dominant 28-7 victory at Thomond Park.

Why Crowley didn’t play

According to interim head coach Ian Costello, it was Munster’s decision to rest him for that encounter, albeit in line with the IRFU’s protocols around Ireland internationals.

Test players are limited to a certain amount of game time at provincial level and Crowley’s team decided to use the Leinster clash as the one to miss, instead of the upcoming Champions Cup ties with Saracens and Northampton Saints.

“There are questions around Jack Crowley not playing at 10 with the injuries around the Munster scrumhalf position suggesting an exemption should have been made, especially with no match this week and an opportunity to see both Irish outhalves, Crowley and Prendergast, going head-to-head,” D’Arcy wrote in his Irish Times column.

“While there is no guarantee that Crowley would have changed the result, Munster are a more organised team when he starts.

“The URC is doing everything right to promote the best matches and the Irish player management system is envied around the world. However, it was designed 20 years ago, when I was playing, and hasn’t evolved much since then.

“No doubt, the festive fixtures still have great energy and are arguably becoming more important than some of the Champions Cup fixtures. Because of that, we deserve to see the best players like Crowley playing.”

‘It’s at our discretion’ – Munster defend ‘massive decision’ to rest Jack Crowley for Leinster derby

D’Arcy compared the modern-day game to his playing days and how the IRFU came about with this system to manage the individuals’ game time.

However, the Ireland great insists that while not much has changed with the governing body’s protocol, the sport itself has moved on, with more importance placed on the festive derbies.

‘Something had to give’

“There was such a focus on the Christmas period that it would be the sliding door moment for the rest of the season. Your form also fed into Irish selection, while the team’s form decided whether you would get out of your group in Europe,” D’Arcy wrote.

“You could be done and dusted by the end of January with a couple of Celtic League matches to finish out before the season could wind down.

“The rugby calendar then expanded, which placed demands on a small pool of players in Ireland. There was the old joke that it was harder to get out of the Irish team that it was to get into it, with the same players playing week-in week-out regardless of form for club and province.”

He added: “This gave rise to the player management system and the need to protect frontline players from too much rugby ahead of the international windows.

“The way the European Cup was structured at that time was two matches before the November internationals and two in December and January. Something had to give.

“Frontline internationals would be rested for one of the interprovincial games, usually the away fixture, with scorelines usually reflecting exactly that. Away wins, at that time of year, were few and far between.

“That has not been the case over the recent two rounds of interprovincial games, with three of the four matches won away from home.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ireland-great-calls-for-irfu-to-evolve-after-jack-crowley-controversy-exposes-outdated-system