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The Ireland verdict on their two No10s against Argentina
By Liam Heagney at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Andy Farrell has had his say on how he felt his two Ireland No10s fared against Argentina on Friday night. The Irish hung onto a 22-19 win in the Autumn Nations Series, despite being held scoreless after Jack Crowley’s conversion of Joe McCarthy’s 32rd-minute try.
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Crowley, who accounted for 12 of his team’s points with one try, two conversions and a well-taken drop goal, played for 62 minutes before giving way at out-half to Sam Prendergast, the 21-year-old who was given the task of steering Ireland to victory in his first Test appearance.
The rookie held his nerve, helping is team to stay out of Argentina’s reach, something that proved beyond Ciaran Frawley when he was introduced as Crowley’s replacement seven days earlier versus New Zealand.
Ireland were 13-12 ahead when Frawley came on as a 58th-minute replacement, but his display was riddled with errors and they went on to lose 13-23. In contrast, there was no scoring by either side during Prendergast’s involvement against Los Pumas.
Asked what he made of Prendergast’s debut, Farrell said: “I thought he was excellent. I thought he was really composed.
“Playing your first cap in that type of position in that type of situation, I thought he was really composed. Played at a nice tempo at the line and started to make things happen. That just shows what type of character he has got.”
As regards Crowley, who helped to put Ireland in their match-winning position, the head coach added: “Some good stuff, some really good stuff actually and then some bits that he would like to tidy up like everyone else.
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“It’s a team game. Anyone either does some good stuff or some bad stuff, it wasn’t just Jack.”