Ireland v Australia: 'He deserves it' - Andy Farrell on Sam Prendergast selection 

The 21-year-old got the nod to start against the Wallabies on Saturday.

Head coach Andy Farrell during an Ireland Rugby media conference at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell believes Sam Prendergast deserves his start as Ireland 10 against Australia on Saturday ahead of Jack Crowley but insisted all of his inexperienced fly-halves have a lot of improving to do.

Prendergast, 21, is the least experienced of the trio of number 10s in head coach Farrell’s squad, Ciaran Frawley the one to miss out at Aviva Stadium this weekend. He made his first Test start in last Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series win over Fiji, a week on from a debut off the bench when he replaced Crowley, 24, in the victory over Argentina.

Farrell has made no secret of his admiration for Prendergast and took him as uncapped player on the summer tour to South Africa, when Crowley continued his ever-present run as the starting fly-half he had enjoyed since succeeding Johnny Sexton after the veteran’s retirement from rugby after the 2023 World Cup.

Frawley also earned plaudits off the bench for his drop-goal heroics in the second Test against the Springboks as Ireland earned a 1-1 series draw with the world champions in Durban. The Crowley-Frawley axis continued into this November Test window but a poor team performance in defeat to New Zealand at the outset reflected badly on the pair and though Munster star kept the 10 jersey to face Argentina, Frawley was replaced on the bench by his Leinster colleague Prendergast.

Crowley played well in the 22-19 win over the Pumas but was replaced just after the hour as the young pretender made an impressive 19-minute debut, albeit with Ireland failing to score after half-time. It was enough to earn Prendergast a first Test start against the Fijians and with a variety of backline injuries he played the full 80 minutes which have cemented his claim to another start in Farrell’s starting line-up for this Saturday’s IRFU 150th Anniversary match against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies.

Crowley must be satisfied with a place among the replacements, while the head coach on Thursday recalled Hugo Keenan at full-back for the injured Jamie Osborne and reinstated Jamison Gibson-Park at number nine as last week’s starting scrum-half Craig Casey drops to the bench and centurion Conor Murray misses out.

In the forward pack, last week’s debutant Cormac Izuchukwu makes way for Tadhg Beirne at blindside flanker, the Munster captain reverting to the number six jersey after a start in the second row as James Ryan returns to partner fellow lock Joe McCarthy. Beirne forms the back row with Josh van der Flier and captain and No.8 Caelan Doris while another debutant against Fiji, hooker Gus McCarthy, moves to bench, from where Ronan Kelleher returns to the starting front row.

Yet it is Prendergast’s selection that catches the eye and the head coach on Thursday was happy to explain his decision-making process.

"A couple of things. I think he deserves it. I thought he played pretty well,” Farrell said. “He has trained pretty well over the course of this autumn series as well, so there's another chance there to lead the week and grow in that manner. Obviously the opportunity to play in a big game along with a good side behind him. For the likes of himself and Gus McCarthy and a few others actually, hopefully you combine all of that together and it kicks them on for the future."

Asked whether he felt Prendergast had out-performed Crowley or whether his selection was with an eye on the former’s development at Test level, Farrell said: "Jack's played very well for us for a good while now, played in a lot of big games as well.

“So we know as far as that's concerned what we've got, although there's a lot of improving to be had and to be seen with Jack and Ciarán Frawley, etc. but I suppose it's pretty similar to Conor (Murray).

“Conor's an unbelievably trusted member of our staff, as is Jack. Craig played well, he deserves his chance to play in a big game also, so it goes through the squad."

Farrell said his message to Prendergast was: “To grow on the performance of last week, you know? I thought, and so did he, that his performance was good.

"A few errors thrown in there, I thought he was nice and composed... how he controlled the bench coming off the bench against Argentina as well. You can throw that into the mix.

"Putting it all together in an 80 minutes performance of a big occasion for everyone involved."

Garry Ringrose joins Casey and Crowley as backline replacements, after failing to disrupt the starting midfield combination of Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw while Peter O’Mahony returns to the bench and joins, amongst others, fellow veteran loosehead prop Cian Healy, set to break Brian O’Driscoll’s Ireland caps record by making his 134th Test appearance in green.

IRELAND: H Keenan; M Hansen, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, F Bealham; J McCarthy, J Ryan; T Beirne, J van der Flier, C Doris.

Replacements: G McCarthy, C Healy, T O'Toole, I Henderson, P O'Mahony, C Casey, J Crowley, G Ringrose.