Andy Farrell backs Sam Prendergast to bounce back from being dropped

Ireland boss Andy Farrell backed Sam Prendergast to bounce back from being dropped as he admitted neither of his leading fly-halves were in particularly good form ahead of the Guinness Six Nations.

Prendergast has been left out of the matchday squad for Saturday’s round-three clash away to England following a tough outing in last weekend’s tense 20-13 win over Italy.

Jack Crowley will start at Twickenham after his impressive cameo against the Azzurri, with Ciaran Frawley providing back-up from the bench.

Prendergast, 23, began six of Ireland’s last seven Six Nations fixtures and has been overlooked for a matchday 23 in the championship for the first time.

“Sam’s a fantastic international player,” head coach Farrell told a press conference, according to the Irish Independent.

“He’s on a journey that’s obviously learning like all of us. That will never stop. It’s the same for Ciaran Frawley.

“We’ve talked all along about the four lads (Crowley, Prendergast, Frawley and Harry Byrne) competing against one another and the balance is right for this team this weekend.

“Everyone gets feedback and we talk it through and we use it in the right manner to see where we’re going to go in the not too distant future.

“I think the two lads (Prendergast and Crowley) probably came into camp, I think they’ve probably been in better form.

“I’m not saying they were in bad form, but you see during training which way that you’re going to go through performance.”

Crowley played every minute of Ireland’s triumphant 2024 Six Nations campaign but his only start in the tournament following Prendergast’s Test debut in November of that year came away to Italy last March.

The 26-year-old will partner recalled scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park as part of