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 SportRugbyRugby UnionSam Prendergast is not Ireland’s fly-half answer – it’s time for Jack CrowleyPrendergast 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 reinsLuke Baker Monday 16 February 2026 14:33 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverUgo Monye reveals his Six Nations predictionsYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. 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We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreAndy 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.open image in gallerySam 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.”open image in galleryAndy Farrell vociferously defended his fly half (PA Archive)Farrell is loyal but he’s far from stupid. He will have clocked P