Andy Farrell reportedly set to make bombshell selection call for Wallabies

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is reportedly set to double down on upstart flyhalf Sam Prendergast as his starter for his team’s clash with Australia this weekend.

Making his debut a fortnight ago, the 21-year-old Leinster playmaker is set to get the nod ahead of Munster flyhalf Jack Crowley when the team is announced at 2pm today.

Prendergast, who led Ireland to U20 Six Nations Grand Slam glory and a place in the World Rugby U20 Championship final, has long been heralded as a future star at the senior level.

This reported decision to start him does, however, come as somewhat of a surprise given Crowley, who is just 24-years-old played a key role in guiding Ireland to a Six Nations title last season as well as a tied series in South Africa in July.

At the domestic level, Prendergast has made twenty appearances for Leinster, whilst Crowley has made sixty for Munster. Thus, the shift in personnel comes as a shock, given Farrell’s propensity to back more seasoned players throughout his time in charge of Ireland. A key example of this was Ireland’s lack of rotation at last year’s Rugby World Cup, where Farrell continually picked his strongest side for each pool match.

Speaking ahead of Prendergast’s first start last weekend, Farrell lavished praise on the youngster, saying, “I’m confident from what we’ve seen. We took him on the Emerging [Ireland], and he played in all of those games.

“The aim of that was to grab hold of that team and make sure that he treated it like it was his own, as though he was in charge, and he did that in spades.

“This week we’ve seen the benefit of that but we need to see it transfer obviously.”

On the flipside of Farrell’s feedback this November, he was less than enamoured with Crowley publicly saying in the wake of Ireland’s loss to New Zealand,  “Jack, along with quite a few of our players, would have been hoping for better performance.

“Some of them are lucky enough to get another chance to do that, others are coming in, and some of them played pretty well themselves, but there were too many people not right at their best last week, and we’re hoping for everyone to improve, not just Jack.

“Obviously, the control of the game is something that Jack would be open and honest about wanting to step up a little bit this weekend, but we’ve certainly seen that in training this week.”

Following these comments, Crowley went on to score a try, two conversions and a drop goal against Argentina to guide his team into a commanding 22 – 9 half-time lead.

Mirroring the match against New Zealand a week earlier, when the Munster pivot was removed from action around the 60th minute, Ireland’s attack sputtered as they failed to score a single point in his absence,

Thus, the challenge for Prendergast this week will be to prove that he can direct the team against a far stiffer challenge than the one he faced a week ago against Fiji. Against the Pacific Islanders, Prendergast was exceptional at taking the ball to the line before finding a perfect pass to put a teammate in space. From the boot, his kicking game was on point outside of a missed touch finder, which went dead.

For Crowley, he will hope to be given a chance to close out the match and lay down a marker that he will not give up his jersey without a fight.