Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I think the issue re: Prendergast is his naming in the actual squad - which indicates Farrell sees him as a genuine ten option if Crowley pulls a hamstring in the captains run. If it was purely just for experience, he could've named Byrne, brought along Prendergast as a development player, and nobody would've batted an eyelid.

I'd be inclined to agree with @ulsteru20s that suggesting Sam Prendergast is at the level to play international rugby against a Tier 1 nation is stretching what we've seen so far. There's a reason that throwing him to Connacht for a year to develop was a genuine idea.

Just a point, which I know we are not supposed to be critical of Crowley on here


This is a bit rich. Didn't you take issue recently when people suggested Ntamack is better than Ross Byrne?

In fact, didn’t you claim that Harry Byrne was 2nd choice for Ireland??

Here’s the point; there absolutely is room for reasonable criticism of all players on here, including Crowley, Ross Byrne etc. And Crowley hasn’t been perfect this year.

But there’s nothing to suggest that Crowley is anything but deserved starting 10 (by a distance, imo). A point I’m sure you’d agree on.

and in recent games v Toulouse, Ross has been his equivalent or better

That doesn’t make him a top 10.

I did claim Harry was 2nd choice and that was based on the 6 nations as I explained at the time when he was.

No he wasn’t. You’re literally the only person, on any medium I’ve seen claiming this.

ive been in agreement overall with your argument re SP, but crowleys won a couple of player of the game awards recently……

The point is, if you're going to make an accusation so broad as:

Just a point, which I know we are not supposed to be critical of Crowley on here

…maybe then don't get so defensive when some suggests Ross Byrne isn't a top tier 10.