Ireland allay injury concerns over Sam Prendergast

Ireland have dismissed any fears that Sam Prendergast is a doubt for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations opener against England.

The out-half carried heavy strapping on his left leg as the team trained on Monday at their camp in Portugal, with assistant coach Andrew Goodman confirming the player had been dealing with a dead leg.

The 21-year-old did train fully, along with the rest of the 40-man group, and Ireland’s attack coach appeared confident there would be no risk of Prendergast missing Saturday’s championship opener at the Aviva.

"Yeah, he trained fully today, just a little dead leg I believe. I'm sure he'll be alright," Goodman said following Tuesday's session at The Campus.

Prendergast made his debut for Ireland in their November win against Argentina, before going on to start the next two wins against Fiji and Australia.

The Kildare native has also climbed above Ciarán Frawley and Ross Byrne to the top of Leinster's out-half depth chart this season.

And having worked with the former Ireland U20 star in his previous job at Leinster, Goodman (below) has seen how quickly Prendergast is developing week on week.

"It's been a great couple of months for Sam, just the game experience he's managed to gather up both with Ireland, first with Emerging Ireland, then Ireland, then some big Champions Cup games away to La Rochelle, home to Bath, so it's been a great period for him to get real game experience.

"I know he valued the time at Leinster when he was training alongside the senior squad as an academy member but to get out there and feel it for himself, there's been huge growth in his game."

Should that minor knock become an issue later in the week, Jack Crowley would most likely take the starting 10 shirt, which he wore for the