'He didn't have his strongest game... I think he would think the same'

Irish television pundits seem to be in agreement that Jack Crowley should be the man in the hotseat when Ireland take on England in Twickenham next weekend in Round 3 of the Guinness Six Nations.

Andy Farrell’s men beat Italy 20-13 in a tense affair in Dublin on Saturday, with incumbent stand-off Sam Prendergast clearly struggling. The Leinsterman looked out of sorts, missing two relatively gettable conversions, while he was equally poor kicking from hand.

Jack Crowley’s entrance coincided with Ireland finding their feet in a match where Italy had theretofore held the whip hand, and one shanked touchfinder aside, he managed to steer Ireland home for their first win of the championship.

The Virgin Media panel of Conor Murray, Rob Kearney and Peter O’Mahony all suggested Crowley had earned his spot.

“I think Jack [Crowley], just at the minute,” said Murray. “Maybe Sam is feeling the pressure a little bit and that’s the nature of that Irish number 10 jersey, it always comes with pressure. He probably didn’t have his strongest game today, which is fair, and I think he would think the same.

“Jack came in and slotted in. He didn’t do anything exceptional, bar the shanked kick at the end, but maybe he is deserving of a shot now because it’s still so tight. I couldn’t tell you what Andy’s thinking.”

Rob Kearney put it more bluntly, stating that Prendergast looked low on confidence.

“I think Sam had one of his poorer games for Ireland today. He looks like a guy who is feeling the pressure, is under pressure and is lacking a little bit of confidence. But you have to go through those experiences as a young number 10.

“Jack, on the other hand, was really good when he came on. What I loved most about his performance was that a lot of the time he just caught the ball and gave it to his forwards early. Just catch, pass, give it to them early. As a forward you know that if you’re getting the ball early you can run onto it and get a bit of go-forward. It gave the lads around him a little bit more confidence and more certainty about the direction they were going,” concluded Kearney on the matter.

Peter O’Mahony felt the level of criticism directed at the young players in recent weeks was tough for him to swallow.

“If I’m being perfectly honest, I find it difficult because these are young men. I spoke about Tom Clarkson, you need time and you need to make mistakes. In Ireland we’ve been very lucky with John, Johnny, and Ronan, we’ve had 200 caps of the last 50.

“I find it tough to see the scrutiny. These are young, young men and you have all sorts of stuff going on social media, everybody these days has an opinion and I find it hard sometimes to listen to some of it.

“At the end of the day we’re looking at performances. I thought Jack was superb when he came on. He didn’t do anything completely out of this world but he got guys rolling.

“Sam is a great kid and I saw an interview with ROG [Ronan O’Gara] during the week. He’s one of the most talented people he’s seen in training, some of the stuff he can pull off. You see when he plays really well how good he can be. I think he needs a bit of confidence, an arm around the shoulder, and people need to look after him like they do Jack.”