Sam Prendergast is not Ireland’s fly-half answer – it’s time for Jack Crowley

Prendergast has been anointed as the successor to Johnny Sexton in the Irish No 10 jersey but his struggles have reached a point that Munsterman Crowley must be handed the reins

Andy Farrell was bullish in defence of his starting fly half, turning his ire on the “keyboard warriors” slating Sam Prendergast, questioning the national pride of those critics and digging out journalists for creating a false narrative that Ireland fans cheered his substitution in from the disjointed, unconvincing 20-13 win over Italy.

But the walls appear to be closing in on Prendergast and no amount of confrontational bluster from a coach rightly sticking up for his player in public can perpetually postpone the inevitable. It’s time to take the young No 10 out of the firing line and give Jack Crowley his shot.

It is, of course, impossible to know the intention of each of the 50,000+ people inside the Aviva Stadium during Saturday’s scrappy Six Nations win but there were audible groans from the crowd when Prendergast put a pair of relatively straightforward conversion attempts wide before a substantial roar when the Leinster playmaker was replaced by Munster’s Crowley on 55 minutes.

“No, I don’t believe that,” insisted Farrell when asked whether that noise represented supporters celebrating Prendergast’s withdrawal. “No, you’re making that up, 100 per cent.

“I heard the cheer for Jack. That’s for Jack. Jack’s a good lad. He’s a good player. And Munster supporters and Irish supporters are allowed to cheer that. We don’t need to make it out to be something it’s not.”

The fact it was even a question speaks to how badly Prendergast struggled for a second straight week. In addition to the missed conversions – which came after he barely had a 70 per cent success rate for kicks at goal during the 2025 Six Nations – the 23-year-old failed to get Ireland’s attack clicking.

Sam Prendergast (left) and Jack Crowley (right) are vying for the Ireland fly half jersey (Getty/Reuters)

They looked stilted, short of ideas and their No 10 was resorting to throwing Hollywood passes that may well have been intercepted. There is a worrying lack of logic to their once exquisitely well-honed attacking structure. They generally line up flat, forgoing the depth that would create both space and options, but don’t have the players, aside from Stuart McCloskey and James Lowe to an extent, that look for the offloads and short passes to make that alignment effective.

Prendergast’s struggles in defence have also become unworkable. He has missed the most tackles of any player during this Six Nations with 10, in just 135 minutes of rugby, having also been top of that statistic in last year’s championship with 18. He is now clearly targeted by the opposition. And if you drop him into the backfield to try and take him out of the defensive firing line, he will simply be picked on with contestable aerial balls that he is in no position to win.

Almost a year ago to the day, Prendergast was being lauded as a “master of control” by a legendary fly half from a previous era, Ronan O’Gara, following a virtuoso display to outclass Scotland in Edinburgh but now he looks lost. Yet Farrell doubled down in slamming criticism of his young ten.

“What’s gone on over the last year, especially with the keyboard warriors, I think people need to ask themselves sometimes, ‘Are we Irish?’ ’Do we want people to do well or not?’ Because it can be tough for these kids,” said the Englishman.

“So, the keyboard warriors on Twitter, or whatever you call it now, need to cop on and try and help these kids. It’s damaging. We need to back them.”

Andy Farrell vociferously defended his fly half (PA Archive)

Farrell is loyal but he’s far from stupid. He will have clocked Prendergast’s latest struggle and the fact that Crowley helped bail Ireland out. Italy led 10-5 at half-time at the Aviva and should have been further ahead – Gonzalo Quesada’s men will rue missing their best opportunity at a first-ever Six Nations win in Dublin.

The spark that Crowley gave a listless Ireland when he emerged from the bench was obvious. It was instructive that they scored just 80 seconds after he came on, following perhaps their first genuinely slick passage of attacking play in the entire match.

It would be reductive to suggest this was entirely because of Crowley’s presence – after all, talismanic scrum half Jamison Gibson-Park also came off the bench at the same time – but the 26-year-old touched the ball seven times during a wonderful move that ended with Robert Baloucoune scoring a try described by Farrell as “one of the best” he’s seen during his time in charge.

Baloucoune! WHAT A FEND! WHAT A STEP! ☘️💥

The Aviva erupts - Ireland finally lead.

Some nice quarterbacking from McCloskey too 🏈 pic.twitter.com/eZVVjiFdiv

— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) February 14, 2026

To rub salt into the open Prendergast wound, Crowley duly slotted the conversion and a penalty shortly after – doing precisely what his fly-half rival had notably failed to. His quick, crisp passing injected urgency and zip into Irish phase play, leading to a 20-minute spell of dominance, until they faltered towards the end as the Azzurri came on strong and could have snatched a draw.

Crowley wasn’t perfect, his most notable error being missing touch from a penalty with the last kick of the game as Ireland hunted a scarcely deserved four-try bonus point.

In the search for Johnny Sexton’s long-term successor at No 10, there is a sense that Prendergast is seen as the more Sexton-like figure capable of really unlocking Ireland’s structured attack.

At his best, he can be devastating as one of the premier players in world rugby at holding on to the ball until the last second at the gain line and then releasing to send teammates into space. He is undoubtedly, not currently at his best.

“He looks like a guy who is feeling the pressure, is under pressure and is lacking a little bit of confidence,” said 95-cap Ireland international Rob Kearney as a pundit on Virgin Media’s coverage.

Prendergast’s tackling has become a big issues for the fly half (Getty Images)

Farrell appears to have nailed his colours to the mast. Prendergast has start 11 of Ireland’s last 15 games. He only turned 23 last week and the thinking seems to be that he has a higher long-term ceiling than Crowley and could be a genuinely special fly half, even if there are currently clear deficiencies in his game. The cure for those, of course, is Test match experience.

As Eddie Jones found out to his cost when coaching England however, there is only so long that you can promise jam tomorrow before fans get fed up with the lack of that sugary, strawberry goodness today.

With a World Cup just 18 months away, how patient can Farrell afford to be? When there was little to choose between Prendergast and his back-up, the cries for change weren’t as loud but not starting Crowley is beginning to become detrimental to the present.

The Munsterman – and this debate always seems to divide along provincial lines – is undoubtedly the better defender, the bigger threat with ball in hand and perhaps more suited to the Test match arena.

Crowley looks set to be given the starting nod against England on Saturday (Getty Images)

He will now surely start at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday against an England side that will be reeling from their latest chastening Calcutta Cup defeat.

“We’ll see [about selection], but Jack did pretty well, didn’t he?” hinted Farrell after the Italy win. “He’s gutted about the kick into the corner but he caused us a lot more good than harm and he can be proud of his performance.”

The time has come. Crowley gives Ireland the best chance to win right now and Prendergast should continue his growth from the bench.