Andy Farrell to hand Jack Crowley Ireland No 10 jersey for England test

Jack Crowley and a trio of British & Irish Lions Test starters could be set to bolster Ireland for their trip to face England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Head coach Andy Farrell is on Thursday morning set to name his matchday 23 for the Guinness Six Nations third-round clash against an English side smarting from their 31-20 Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh.

Ireland will travel to London later in the day, having rebounded from their 36-14 beating by France in Paris on the opening night, overcoming a strong Italian side 20-13 thanks to a strong input from their replacements and Farrell could reward that bench effort this weekend.

Fly-half Crowley was the catalyst for the late surge to victory, having replaced starting 10 Sam Prendergast on 55 minutes with the contest level at 10-10.

In tandem with scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, the fresh half-backs raised the tempo and attacking flow, orchestrating the go-ahead try scored by wing Rob Baloucoune before Crowley slotted both the conversion and a penalty soon after to secure the win.

Both Gibson-Park, who had replaced starting nine Craig Casey on 51 minutes, and Crowley could start at Twickenham with Prendergast possibly missing out completely if Farrell sticks with a six-two split between forwards and backs on the Ireland bench.

That could open the door for the more versatile Ciaran Frawley to be handed the number 23 jersey, which Crowley wore last weekend in Dublin.

Assistant coach Johnny Sexton, the former captain and number 10, insisted earlier this week that both Frawley and fellow fly-half Harry Byrne also needed game time at fly-half ahead of the 2027 World Cup in 18 months if Ireland were to avoid the over-reliance on one man in the position that had been