Craig Casey on being named Ireland captain for the summer tour

Munster man Craig Casey will captain Paul O’Connell’s Ireland side for the Summer Tour fixtures against Georgia and Portugal which kicks off this Saturday in Tbilisi. The 26-year-old sat down with Stuart McAvoy to reveal how his emotions when told he would lead the squad across the two games, and why his father was the first person he told. The pair also discussed hopes for the two-game series, in which those not selected for the Lions Tour will be looking to impress in the green jersey ahead of the 2025 Autumn Nations Series.

Watch Ireland’s Summer Tour against Georgia and Portugal live on Virgin Media Television.

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well Craig you’ve been in camp a couple of weeks now how’s it been oh
it’s been great um for me anyway I haven’t been in an Irish camp since November and I missed the Six Nations so the excitement levels coming into camp are we’re off the charts and I think that’s only grown since we’ve been around each other the buzz around the group is is class and you can see kind of the freshness of the lads that haven’t been in camp before and the excitement that they’re bringing to camp and the older heads then are kind of navigating their way through camp and showing the lads the way so no it’s been it’s been brilliant and the new coaches as well have been top class so it’s been great you talk about older heads you’re maybe one of them 26 but for you to miss that six nations to be back here now with new people what’s the dynamic like you know 12 uncapped squad men they must be loving it being there yeah like I said bringing a real excitement and freshness to the group i think you can really see how passionate they are about playing for Ireland and about putting their best foot forward over these few weeks to to kind of force their way in and make that first cap so it’s been great the competition is is very good we’ve had three really tough trainings and to be fair the lads are bringing it so no it’s been great
named captain for this series talk us through that phone call from Paulo Conno and what it meant to you
oh it was brilliant i think like it’s probably not something you dream about when you’re younger um captaining Ireland is is something that’s probably way out of my league of what I thought I could do when I was younger but I think when you see the likes of like the players that have captain them and the players that haven’t captain them is probably is more so like the caliber player that have never captained their country I think um it’s really special for me the phone call was was class i think um Paulie ringing me on the Tuesday the day before the squad came out so I knew probably the day before and I got to tell family uh my girlfriend and loved ones and all that so it was great the first person I rang was my father uh he’s been my coach since I was under fives up until under 18s and he put a hell of a lot of work into me so he was quite emotional on the phone when I when I rang him so uh it was it was a very nice one
you stole my notes as you said you r you rang your dad straight away coaching at Shannon and Kuner bringing you up what was his reaction like was there a few near tears so emotional
he was balling he was balling crying no he wasn’t uh he was very emotional though in fairness um like I said he’s put a hell of a lot into me and I think it’s just reserve uh reward for him and all the hard work that he put into me and for me to be able to ring him first and tell him that his son is going to captain the country i think uh any father would be emotional with that so um no I was delighted to to kind of break the news to him and then pass it on to a few more people that have put a lot of a lot of work into me so
18 caps for Ireland how ready do you feel to captain your country
yeah very ready um I think leadership is is always something that I’ve been very very passionate about whether that’s leading by example when you’re not kind of in a leadership group and trying to bring the standards up with a group and and grow the group that way but I think I’ve been in leadership groups the whole way up probably since under 16s junior cup uh I was the captain of art school senior cup as well so it’s probably something that’s not really new to me even though it is new obviously I’ve never captained my country before i’ve been the captain of the Irish Aines and Ireland A as well so look uh leadership is something that I’m very very passionate about and and making people feel good around themselves is something that I would like to kind of bring forward into into international national camp so uh I do feel ready yes
ireland have been blessed with great scrums john Maloney Colin Patterson Reen Stringer Murray Gibson Park who did you look up to as a youngster all of them um obviously the first few you named I probably didn’t get to see them play unfortunately but like I watch rugby constantly i’m a I’m a rugby nerd a self-proclaimed rugby nos um so I watched loads of scrums and loads of rugby i think growing up I obviously had Muner to watch and I had Stringer to watch on a weekly basis and then as I grew older I had Connor Murray to kind of look at every weekend and and then obviously as you get into camp you have Gibson Park you have Mr to kind of bounce ideas off and and you’re constantly watching the best nines in the world so on a weekly basis I’d watch Dupont I’d watch Aaron Smith I’d watch Jammo I’d watch myself my best practice and and see like that there’s things that I do on a weekly basis in my game that those world class players are doing as well so that’s how I kind of grow the confidence in my game that I’m not too far off that but I kind of have to get consistent with it and and really bring it every every week
a monster debut in 2019 and Irish won against Italy in 2021 but you’ve had to be patient as well has that been frustrating at times for you frustrating is probably the wrong word but like you said uh probably not a patient patient guy it’s not really in my personality to be patient i kind of want it here and now and um but like like I said when you’re kind of up against the calora player that I was up against with Whitmer and Jammo it is it is tough to break into the group and maybe it didn’t happen as fast as I wanted it to but I think that’s probably been good in the long term for me i’ve had to really grow aspects of my game that I never really thought of like growing up you don’t think of like the scanning and the calamness piece and uh that’s probably not something that I’m used to as well when you’re talking about patience is the camness side of it and I’ve worked really really hard on that over the last few years and something has probably clicked clicked with me since that South Africa game h going down and kind of getting the reigns and being the scrum half to lead the kind of first test against South Africa has brought me on leaps and bounds i think the responsibility of the two weeks into that camp um was brilliant for me and I think from that I’ve really kind of taken off and I I think you can see that in my game over the last year and a half yeah even the way you speak you see confidence there the last year and a half two years what’s been the biggest thing you’ve learned and grown in your game do you feel
that calmness side of it um I’m really really positive and and kind of uh content with where my basic skills are at my pass my kick and and then when once you’re really happy with those I think you can go out to the field and and let it flow and let your game kind of come out within that so seeing things that I probably wouldn’t have seen a few years ago and I’ve worked really hard with Andrew Conway on on just kind of going out there and letting things go and I’ve done the work so why not just go out there and play my game and and see the things and back myself and that’s probably the the area that I’ve come on is kind of like that game management but also seeing things and just backing what I see and and be decisive
you hear from plenty of captains or that get the new leadership role be yourself and from the outside it seems easy i’m sure it’s difficult have you spoke to anyone kalan Doris Johnny Sex are just learned from guys that got Peter Omani Conor Murray how much going into these two tests do you feel that you need to just play your game and the captaincy will come with it
yeah those guys that you’ve named there I’ve learned an awful lot of them uh and I’ve bounced ideas off them i’ve been in leadership groups with Pete for about four or five years so I see how he operates um I’ve chatted to Kalin uh he’s been very accommodating with his time i’ve chatted to Caroline Kurd who is in with us uh and then Paulie the coach is just giving me confidence i think for me it’s probably leading for example i know you’re saying about uh being myself and and kind of putting my performance onto the field because I think that’s what probably matters most for me is kind of leading by example giving the lads that kind of confidence that I’m being the best player that I can be uh and then kind of leading in that front and then like you said being myself i think if I start changing now it’s probably not going to it’s not going to help me it’s not going to help the lads so I’m confident in in where I am as a leader anyway so uh it’s about being myself and putting my best foot forward onto the field
i know guys are away in the Lions tour Andy Farrell’s the coach everything is geared that side of the hemisphere but right now it’s Portugal and Georgia and it’s an opportunity yes for youngsters but guys like yourself to say “Hold on I’m still here and maybe come the Autumn International next six I want to start for Ireland.”
Oh massively so I think you don’t disregard any chance you get to put on an Irish jersey and I wouldn’t put it as second best at all i think there’s real opportunity for us over the next few weeks but it’s also a real privilege to put on an Irish jersey like I said I missed out in the Six Nations i missed out on five more opportunities to get test caps and five more opportunities to represent the group and represent Ireland and that’s something that I’m massively passionate about so to be back in an Irish jersey is is huge for me and huge for mass uh massively huge for lads in that change room next door and they want to put their best foot forward but it’s also a proud moment to put on an Irish jersey at any stage so um it’s a huge opportunity but it’s also a huge privilege for us over the next few weeks to inspire the nation to see Georgia first up a team that want to get into the Six Nations they’ve dominated in that Rugby Europe Championship uh Lops and Dad Absend Dadi the Scrums I’m not sure sure if you watch much footage of them i’m sure you have
but what do you expect in there look I think we know what kind of Georgia will bring i think they’ve been on the rise the last few years and they’ve got real confidence in their game and as they should I think uh Tlisi will be a hard place to go and I think they’ll love nothing more than Ireland coming over and and wanting to take a scalp off us but it’s the same we want to go over and put our best foot forward like I said and and get two wins there so um we’ll be expecting a combative game uh they’ll have confidence in their stuff and a a massive crowd probably behind them and you can see how passionate all of them are about playing for their country so we’re expecting a hard uh test match and I’m sure they won’t disappoint there
might be an old cliche but the pack will need to front up won’t they cuz Georgia are pretty big oh 100% uh and I hope they do that as a score so make my day a bit easier portugal as well simon Manx is there sushi gets Thomas Appleton probably a different type of game yes all eyes on Georgia at the moment but Portugal and Lisbon will be a different facet as well to take on
100% and I think we’ve kind of seen what they’re about in the World Cup and we kind of played them in a training game in the preseason of the World Cup and and to be fair they ripped us apart at the time so we’ll be under no illusions as to how good they can be and dry ball in Portugal they’ll want to put on a bit of a show for their fans as well so it’ll be a tough game there and I’m sure they’ll be bouncing off the walls but uh as will be
what’s the message from the coaches is it performance and results will take care as they say or for you is it two big wins i think we haven’t really dived deep into that yet i think we’re trying to put our structures in place and like I said it’s all about bringing your best to the team um settling in the new lads building connections building our confidence and next week will probably take care of itself as a test week we’ll kind of dive deep into that we’ll dive deep into what we’re about on the Saturday but ultimately we’re here to win two test matches uh and that’s the expectation every time we put on an Irish jersey so we’re here to win
and the final couple how much you enjoying your rugby at the moment is this the calmst you talked about learning earlier but also the most confident you feel wearing a monster or an Irish jersey yeah 100% um I’ve always kind of been confident in myself but I think over the last year or so it’s just going out into the field and feeling almost like no worries uh going out there just letting it be i’ve done the work during the week and go out enjoy it uh and put my best foot forward i’m absolutely loving it yeah
you don’t seem to get nerves do you uh the odd time uh I suppose I would have been a lot more nervous underage and stuff like that i’m sure there’ll be a few nerves going out there as captain for the first time in my country but probably excitement as well i’m not really too hung up on nerves
do you think there’s any concern that 12 uncapped guys and the cohesiveness mightn’t work for you
i think you can say that but um like we’re all familiar with each other i think there’s been a games in the past that a lot of these lads have played with each other there’s a lot of familiarity from the underage setup um and like the the structures in in Irish rugby are are fairly similar so it’s all about building the connections and thankfully we’ve had a week and a half kind of lead in before a test match so the connections will be built we’ll be confident come next Saturday that
and very finally as you mentioned it running out into BC happen in your country for the first time what can you say will be going through your head
firstly I hope the mascot isn’t taller than me like the like the a game but no I’ll be I’ll be massively proud um it’s going to be a huge occasion obviously for my family and all the people that have put a lot of time into me um it’ll be a huge honor to lead out my country for the first time