Jack Crowley seems likely to be in possession of the Ireland ‘ten’ jersey for the foreseeable future, but his graduation into the starting role has not necessarily ended the long-term concerns around the position moving forward.

The Munster man was solid against both England and Wales, with Ireland looking like a more cohesive attacking unit due to his presence on the pitch. In saying that, his goalkicking remains a big concern.

Crowley had one very poor conversion attempt in the first half of the game against Wales, and also missed a second effort after the interval. This continues what has been a consistent area of concern for Irish kickers in recent times.

In this era of the ‘toxic ten’ debate in Irish rugby, both Crowley and Sam Prendergast have struggled from the tee. They are being coached by the man they are trying to succeed, and as a result, a number of Ireland supporters have been questioning the influence of Johnny Sexton in his role as an Ireland coach.

Many fans on social media have wondered if the Ireland outhalves should be getting a bigger lift from having one of the rugby’s greatest ever players coaching them.

What has Johnny Sextons kick coaching done to our Irish 10s goal kicking

Would love to see % stats for Jack and Sam from before and after he got involved

— 2736 days since Leinster won a Champions Cup (@YearlyBottlers) March 6, 2026

Somebody needs to do a deep dive on Ireland’s kickers since Sexton joined the camp. Both Crowley and Prendergast seem to have adopted the tilting the ball to the right off the tee around the same time and pure conjecture is that both their place kicking has been worse since.

— Overthehillprop (@Overthehillprop) March 6, 2026

Can we stop Johnny Sexton influencing our 10s as a kicking coach? Both Jack & Sam have regressed massively as kicker since following his technique. #IREvITA

— K (@Kieranbcfc2) February 14, 2026

This was also a talking point amongst Irish fans on social media after the Italy game last month. Some of this criticism obviously had a provincial slant but the struggles of both kickers do bring into question the impact Sexton is having as a coach.

What the numbers say
Jack Crowley goalkicking stats

Competition
Season / Year
Kicking %

URC

2025–26
76%

2024–25
57%

2023–24
81%

2022-23
68%

Six Nations

2026
75%

2025
50%

2025
74%

Champions Cup

2026
56%

Sam Prendergast goalkicking stats

Competition
Season / Year
Kicking %

URC

2025–26
82%

2024–25
68%

2023–24
71%

Six Nations

2026
50%

2025
70%

Champions Cup

2026
50%

stats valid up through Round 4 of the 2026 Six Nations

The numbers only tell some of the story. Crowley’s best year as a kicker came in the 2023-24 season, when he started every game for Ireland in the Six Nations, before Sexton came on the scene. His kicking percentage cratered last season after losing his place in the Ireland team and amidst the chaos at Munster with Graham Rowntree’s departure. This season he’s below his best, but not miles off it (although he made only 56% of his attempts in the Champions Cup pool stages.)

In his first full year as an Ireland and Leinster starter, Prendergast managed a 70% and 68% success rate respectively. He clearly struggled for confidence in the opening rounds of the 2026 Six Nations, and it was evident in his goalkicking.

For Leinster this season, Prendergast has been employed largely as an impact sub in big games. Harry Byrne memorably insisted on taking the decisive kick in Leinster’s win over La Rochelle in January. Interestingly, Prendergast has the highest kicking percentage in the URC between himself, Byrne and Crowley this season, though he’s kicked fewer attempts.

Technical tweaks for Prendergast and Crowley

Johnny Sexton has been part of the Ireland coaching staff since the autumn of 2024, working closely with Ireland’s kickers during that period. The former Leinster star was a meticulous planner during his own playing career, something that he is now sure to have brought into his post-playing career.

It seems clear that both Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley have altered their kicking technique off the tee over the last season or so, often to mixed to results.

Prendergast seems to have switched up the way they place the ball on the tee in recent seasons, often opting for a flatter lie that is more titled to the right of the target.

This is something that has been noticeable for quite some time, with the below example coming before a really poor effort from Sam Prendergast during the game against Italy last month.

Prendegast converted only half of his kicks in the two games he’s played in this year’s Six Nations. However, it’s almost impossible to assess Prendergast’s kicking due to his loss of confidence.

Recommended

Jack Crowley has had his own struggles with goalkicking that pre-date Sexton’s arrival as an Ireland coach. As far as the second round of the 2024 Six Nations, Matt Williams was predicting that Crowley’s goal kicking could cost him his place in the Ireland team.

Like Prendergast, his kicks now see to be line up to point towards the right of the target, having also changed the equipment he uses on the pitch.

The Cork native now favours a Rhino Dave Alred kicking tee, one which places the ball quite close to the ground.

This changes seems to have occurred towards the final months of the 2024/25 season.

The player had previously used what looks like a Carter Super Kicking tee, one which gave the ball slightly more lift off the playing surface.

Interestingly, this change has coincided with Jack Crowley working alongside Dave Alred himself. The Englishman is someone that Johnny Sexton worked closely with during his own playing career, with Crowley telling Sinead Kissane of the Irish Independent about the influence that both Alred and Sexton have on his game at moment:

I’ve been working with Dave Alred over the last period. Johnny [Sexton] obviously worked with Dave Alred as well.

It’s just getting a perspective from Johnny [who] has been doing it recently and then combining two great minds is the best of the best. It’s just about putting in the reps, figuring it out, week-to-week, trying to improve.

Crowley has also made a tweak to his run-up in kicking penalties and conversions.

You can see a little backwards stutter-step as he starts his run-up to this kick from last Friday. (jump to 7.11 if not automatically taken there)

Johnny Sexton would start his run-up to penalties with a stutter-step as well. (jump to 5.03)

Here’s Crowley in the 2024 Six Nations (jump to 1.52). His run up is very different, and looks more natural, for want of a better word.

Writing in the Irish Examiner this week, Ronan O’Gara said it is clear that Crowley’s kicking mechanics have changed substantially in the last two years.

Wouldn’t I love the opportunity to get up to Temple Hill with Jack some morning on our own just to look at and work through his goal-kicking mechanics because it’s just too unpredictable at the moment.

That is either listening to too many voices or internalising it all too much…

I looked at how he goal-kicked two years ago compared to now and there’s a variety of things that have changed. He’s trying things out.


The biggest test

In altering his mechanics, Crowley has proven his hunger to learn from Sexton and improve.  The proof will be in the pudding, but we haven’t seen it just yet.

Just as Crowley is relatively young, Sexton is relatively new to coaching.

Either way, these goalkicking issues are something that Ireland will need to sort out if they are to have ambitions of competing for the top honours over the next couple of years.

Crowley’s kicking stats in this year’s Six Nations sit at 75%, with Sam Prendergast at 50%. (Compare that to Sexton himself whose Test match kicking percentage was around 88%.)

That will need to be rectified moving forward, especially with points often at a premium in games against the best sides in world. No team can afford to leave such opportunities on the table, especially when other areas of the attack may not be running smoothly.

Saturday’s game against Scotland will be a real test. They are unlikely to fall away like England and Ireland will need Crowley’s boot to win the Triple Crown.

As to how the problem will be fixed, it will be very interesting to see what answers Sexton can come up with

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