A lacklustre performance from Jack Crowley and Munster on Friday night saw the province fall to a 16-14 defeat against Castres in France in their second Champions Cup pool game.
Ian Costello's side produced an error strewn performance and were dealt with several injury blows including losing scrum-half Craig Casey after just 30 minutes with the injury being described as "pretty serious."
One of the standout moments from the game however was Crowley's failed attempt to find touch with the clock in the red. Munster were trailing by two points at the time and for the 24-year-old it is a moment he will want to forget.
Munster could've gone for the posts but turned down the option believing it wasn't in Crowley's range and that decision came back to bite them as Geoffrey Palis intercepted Crowley's kick before it landed into touch.
It is another setback for Crowley who will once again have to display resilience if he is to be Ireland's starting out-half for the upcoming Six Nations.
When dropped by Ireland during the Autumn Nations Series he bounced back strongly and produced a good cameo performance off the bench against Australia.
Ian Costello backs Jack Crowley
Munster's Interim Head Coach Ian Costello is backing his player:
“You’d back Jack to bounce back from anything,” Costello said.
“He’s a quality player, a quality bloke, hugely resilient as we’ve seen repeatedly in the past. Jack will be in the mix over the next couple of weeks, he’ll have to get a rest at some point, but as always we would expect Jack to bounce back.”
“It [the kick] would have put the team in a very good position for a last opportunity. Unfortunately the kick was outside [his] range and, look, he went for every inch out of that and as long as he was committing to it, we’ll back him.”
Munster travel to Ulster on Friday night in the United Rugby Championship and it remains unclear as to whether Crowley will play as Costello could rest him.
There's also the exciting potential of him going head-to-head against the man who took the Ireland number ten jersey from him, Sam Prendergast, as Leinster travel to Thomond Park on December 27th.
SEE ALSO: Lengthy Injury List From Castres Loss Makes Grim Reading For Munster
