Interim Ireland head coach Simon Easterby has explained the decision to start Sam Prendergast at fly-half against England.
The debate around the Irish ten jersey has dominated the build-up to Ireland’s campaign as they chase a hat-trick of titles with Prendergast battling Jack Crowley for the starting role.
Crowley started all five of Ireland’s 2024 Six Nations matches as well as the two Tests against the Springboks in July.
However, his stronghold on the jersey slipped in November with Prendergast making the most of his opportunity against Fiji, earning him another start against Australia the following week.
Since then, the 21-year-old has been in excellent nick for Leinster as Leo Cullen’s side remains unbeaten in both the Investec Champions Cup and the United Rugby Championship.
“Very difficult decision”
Easterby, who is in charge of Ireland this Six Nations with Andy Farrell preparing for the British and Irish Lions tour, has explained that the selection at fly-half against England in their opening game was a difficult decision and believes that will continue to be the case in the years to come.
“Firstly, it’s been a very difficult decision to pick a starting XV as well as a 23 partly based on the fact that there’s been a couple of really good performances in Europe leading into this Six Nations,” Easterby said after naming his matchday 23.
“That’s probably been a little bit different to November when we didn’t have those competitive games to come into and all the players have come in in good form and they’ve made it really difficult for us to make those decisions.
“Sam ahead of Jack, you know what those two are going to play a lot of rugby and they’re going to compete with each other along with a few other players – Ciaran Frawley is also in the squad- for a long time.
“This time, this decision has gone Sam’s way, we felt like he did really well in November, he got a taste for international rugby, he went away and played really well for Leinster in a good period for them as well but he was a big part of those successes across the December window and into the new year.
“So we feel like he’s the right man this weekend to lead the team, there’s a lot of experience around him and I think even the way that Jack has trained and played coming into the Six Nations, means that Sam knows he’s got to keep raising his game and keep getting better.”
Evolution
Crowley is set to feature off the bench against Steve Borthwick’s charges on Saturday and that kind of healthy competition for places in the team was not just limited to the number ten jersey according to Easterby.
“Jack played really well in Northampton in the week prior to camp and he also comes in with a lot of credit in the bank in terms of what he’s done over the past 18 months or two years,” the coach added.
“Also at the back end of that Australia game, he came on and finished the game really strongly and saw out the game, so yeah listen that’s one of the tough calls but there were probably six or seven of those decisions throughout the team selection that we would have been happy to go the other way with.”
The former flanker further explained that there was no preconceived selections ahead of the training camps to prepare for the tournament and has urged both Prendergast and Crowley to continue to improve as Ireland evolve their game.
One of the evolutions that Easterby touched on was that of a fly-half not necessarily playing a full 80 minutes anymore. That was very much the case for a large chunk of Johnny Sexton’s career but nowadays, Test teams will often replace their number ten with England boasting two talented fly-halves in their matchday 23 in Marcus and Fin Smith this weekend.
“We knew that we had to keep progressing and getting better, the decision on Sam is one that we feel is for this game is the right decision but also we know that these days the starting 10 often isn’t the finishing 10 and we feel like Sam will be really well sort of supported and connected around players that he’s going to be playing with,” he said.
“Likewise, when Jack gets his opportunity and he’ll be able to come on and impact the game in the right way like he did in November so there was certainly no preconceived ideas, selection isn’t a perfect science. It’s conversations that you have with players, with other coaches along the way and then over a period of time, you formulate your plans. But we were pleased with the way both of them went in November but we also felt that for the team to keep evolving, those two need to keep evolving and getting better as well.”
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/simon-easterby-explains-why-selection-went-sam-prendergasts-way-in-one-of-six-or-seven-tough-calls-as-ireland-look-to-evolve
