Nov 14,2024
Andy Farrell says Sam Prendergast is ready to make the step up to Test rugby, and has backed the young Leinster out-half to take his chance when he makes his debut in Friday night's meeting with Argentina.
The 21-year-old has been included on the bench for the visit of Los Pumas to Aviva Stadium, where he will provide cover for Jack Crowley, who keeps his place in the starting side following last week’s 23-13 defeat to New Zealand.
Prendergast’s debut had been expected this month. The former Ireland U20 international was involved in Farrell’s extended squads for the Six Nations, and the summer tour of South Africa, while he has seemingly overtaken both Ross and Harry Byrne in the depth chart at his province.
The recent Emerging Ireland tour of Bloemfontein was effectively a dry run for the Kildare native to see how he ran a match week, and he was the only player to start all three games of that Toyota Challenge.
"He’s ready," was Farrell’s short assessment of the rookie out-half.
And the Ireland coach (below) says he’s been impressed with the bullishness shown by the young 10 in his short career to date.
"For a young fellah that’s not had much game-time provincially, he’s obviously had more of late, but in an ironic way he’s probably been patient enough, because, in his own mind he’d probably thought he’s been ready for quite some time because he’s that kind of kid, a confident kid.
"The experience that he’s got from being around the squad, he’s comfortable in his own skin.
"The reason for taking him on the Emerging tour was to make sure that he understood what it was to grab hold of his team and show that he is in charge. He showed that in abundance, we’ve seen the knock-on effect from that in the squad in the last couple of weeks.
"In his own mind he’s ready, he’s a young kid that’s in a pressurised type position, obviously. He’s going to make his mistakes, but that’s the nature of anyone coming through."
Prendergast is one of two potential debutants this Friday, with Leinster tighthead Thomas Clarkson (below) also promoted to the bench following injuries to Tadhg Furlong and Tom O’Toole.
And Farrell says it’s always a special feeling to be able to give uncapped players their first taste of international rugby.
"It's fantastic. I don't get bored of saying that we're the lucky ones.
"We'll celebrate that this evening with their families. The new caps, they never know what's coming because they haven't been there before and see that before.
"It's special for us to be able to do that. We've had plenty of them over the years but each one is unique within itself," Farrell added.
On the other end of the scale, Cian Healy is named among the replacements for his 133rd cap, drawing him level at the top of Ireland’s all-time list alongside Brian O’Driscoll.
The 37-year-old will hit his milestone appearance on the 15-year anniversary of his debut against Australia in 2009.
"The utmost respect doesn't do it justice," said Farrell.
"It has been a pleasure to be able to coach him. I was thinking back this morning in regards to my time with Cian when I coached him for the first time in 2013 on the Lions tour. I was amazed at his athleticism.
"He would have been right in his pomp at that stage and if you remember, he got a terrible ankle injury and the tour was taken away from him.
"He’s been a world leading loosehead throughout his career. But the transition that he’s made in the last number of years in how he’s not just accepted, but relished, the responsibility of being a mentor to somebody like Andrew Porter in the first instance.
"He [Porter] is probably the Cian of 2013, isn’t he? He’s probably a world-class loosehead and Cian’s part of the reason for that. He’s been selfless in that regard.
"Just watching him over the last couple of weeks, how he is with Jack Boyle, is priceless to see. So, I’ve the utmost respect. He’s been a legend of our squad for all these years and he continues to be so."
While there are four new faces on the bench, Robbie Henshaw (above) is the only change to the starting team, as the Leinster centre comes in to partner Garry Ringrose in midfield, with Bundee Aki dropping out of the squad.
Argentina arrive in Dublin in excellent form, picking up wins against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the Rugby Championship, before putting 50 points on Italy in Udine last weekend.
And Farrell says Felipe Contepomi’s side are the "perfect opposition" for his players, who are determined to make up for last week’s defeat to the All Blacks.
"When you’re a pretty honest group it makes it easier to find solutions and get to the point straight away and make sure we turn the page as soon as we can.
"Pressure’s good. It’s what concentrates the mind, you see where your character’s at. We want to win all our games but the opposition is always going to have a say in that.
"I think this is perfect because we’ve got another top, top drawer opposition coming and we want to test ourselves because we feel like we let a few people down last week.
"I’m sure there’s a bit of disappointment with a few of the lads that they don’t get to do that [play again] but they understand as well that it’s about the team, it’s about the squad but,
"That’s why I said this is the perfect game, because it’s very similar in as far as the quality of the opposition, and where you want to be to draw out that performance from yourselves."
