Jack Crowley given nod for Twickenham after 'ripping' into Italy

Sam Prendergast goes from starting 10 to beyond the matchday 23 as Farrell takes him out of the firing line.

Jack Crowley during an Ireland Rugby squad training session. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Jack Crowley has been given the nod at No.10 for Ireland for Saturday’s Six Nations game in London after ‘ripping’ in to Italy from off the bench last week.

Crowley gets his first start for his country since Japan in November on the back of impressive efforts off the bench in the Championship, not least his impact against the Azzurri when his introduction for Sam Prendergast after 59 minutes kick-started the team’s best passage.

“Because of what we've seen and how he's come through and performed and playing confidently,” Farrell explained. “The two lads probably came in to camp… They've probably been in better form. I'm not saying they were in bad form, in better form, but you see during training which way that you're going to go through performance, etc.

“You back what you see and all of that. Sometimes you see people come from the back and have nothing to lose and get over themselves and just rip in.

"We've not just seen that with Jack, but we've seen that with somebody as experienced as James Ryan. Not selected to start in the first game, came on against France in a storming game and has continued that.

“I saw that with James as well in the Lions where he was behind the eight ball with a quad injury and he was chasing his tail to try and get into the squad. He played his best rugby I would have thought within that tour.

“That's because people are able to just sit back a little bit and make sure they make sense of it all and get over themselves and rip into the performance. I think you saw that in Jack's performance last week.” 

Prendergast goes from starting 10 to beyond the matchday 23 as Farrell takes him out of the firing line. The Leinster man’s performances have come in for plenty of criticism and his head-to-head with Crowley has generated just as much debate.

Farrell has rounded on the “keyboard warriors” who have made much of it quite toxic this last few years, but explained that his conversation with the 23-year old was much the same as it has been with any players who find themselves on the outside looking in.

“Sam's a fantastic international player. He's on a journey that's obviously learning like all of us. That would never stop. It's the same for Ciaran [Frawley] and for Harry [Byrne].

“We've talked all along about the four lads competing against one another and the balance is right for this team this weekend.”