Jack Crowley club future by no means done

Leicester Tigers are facing an uphill fight to tempt Ireland star Jack Crowley into quitting Munster when his contract runs out this summer and make the move across the Irish Sea to Welford Road.

The increasingly desperate Gallagher Premiership side have offered Crowley, recalled to Ireland’s starting line up to face Italy in Rome tomorrow, around £600k a year to replace back-to-back World Cup-winning Springbok Handre Pollard.

Cork-born Crowley, 25, who debuted for Munster in 2021, winning a United Rugby Championship title and a Grand Slam two years later, was Andy Farrell’s starting fly-half in last season’s Championship-winning side.

But he lost his place to Sam Prendergast for Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series clash with Australia, who then kept his place starting each of Ireland’s opening four games in this season’s Six Nations.

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Crowley has played at full-back and inside centre but is replacing Prendergast in his preferred position in Italy, and well-placed sources in Ireland are casting doubts on him moving to the Tigers.

Crowley is not on a lucrative central IRFU contract, with 10 of the 14 awarded being given to Leinster players, and £600k would be difficult for them to match.

A switch to the East Midlands would spell the end of his international career, and it wouldn’t be the first time that an Irish international has used interest from England and France to get the IRFU to dig deep and offer a better deal.

Crowley and his advisors are currently locked in talks with Ireland bosses and could use the Tigers’ interest as a negotiating tactic.

The Tigers are starting to panic after first-choice Owen Farrell told them that he would be seeing out the final year of his two-year contract with fallen Top 14 giants Racing 92.

The Premiership outfit are facing a recruiting crisis with their second choice No.10 Jamie Shillcock already announcing that he is moving across the channel to join Brive when his deal runs out at the end of June.