Andy Farrell believes Sam Prendergast is ready to step up ahead of his first Ireland start against Fiji.
The head coach today made seven changes to his team, handing first caps to Leinster Academy hooker Gus McCarthy and Ulster flanker Cormac Izuchukwu for the penultimate game of the Autumn Nations Series.
Prendergast made his debut off the bench last week against Argentina and Farrell had no hesitation in handing him the No 10 shirt this week.
“I’m confident from what we’ve seen,” he said.
“We took him on the Emerging and he played in all of those games and the aim of that was for him to grab hold of that team and make sure that he treated it like his own as though he was in charge.
“He did that in spades and this week we’ve seen the benefit of that. We need to see it transfer obviously.
“Yes, his character is composed, confident but yet not over-confident. He’s assertive in what he wants and he has a nice way about how he goes about his business.”
Izuchukwu has been on Ireland’s radar for a couple of seasons, whereas 21-year-old McCarthy started the season as Leinster’s fifth choice hooker but when injuries to others opened the door he took his chance brilliantly.
“Loads and loads of potential,” he said of the two new caps.
“I suppose Izzy has been in and around the squad now for a while actually.
“The first Emerging Ireland is when we first came across his ability, his athleticism, his point of difference, and since then – I know that’s a couple of years ago – the improvement and maturity of his game because he was young in as far as the 15-a-side game when the first Emerging tour was on.
“The difference between the first tour and the second tour was chalk and cheese. His ability, point of difference, his potential with that maturity, he deserves a shot to show what he’s got.
“Gus, what a rise in such a short space of time.
“Obviously coming from the 20s and being successful there, he’s been a captain for a long time now and you can see why because you can see his maturity in how he goes about the game.
“But rugby is a strange thing. You think there’s a pecking order and all of a sudden a couple of players get an injury then a kid gets an opportunity and he shows up really well when we take him on the training week with us as a development player.
“He showed up unbelievably well and he’s forced our arm to keep him in the squad, first and foremost. And he deserves a shot to see what he can do as well.”
Ciarán Frawley returns to the bench after missing out last weekend on the back of a poor outing against the All Blacks.
Farrell is backing the Skerries native to bounce back.
“Just to be himself. I mean, things happen, don’t they?” he said.
“Sometimes you have a couple of errors and you then lose the run of yourself a little bit, that’s human nature, 100%, and that’s certainly not how Frawls is as a player.
“He’s super-excited that he gets another chance to right the wrongs of a couple of weeks ago and we’re excited about seeing him play because he’s a top-quality player.
Tadhg Furlong had hoped to be involved this week, but his hamstring injury hasn’t recovered in time.
“He’s tried his best,” Farrell said.
“I feel for him. It’s been tough because everyone is desperate to play for Ireland and he’s worked really hard to try and get back there and we were hoping it was going to be this week. You’re always trying to push on to the next stage and get through that and he didn’t quite manage that.”
Farrell wants to see improvements in Ireland’s performance after their defeat to New Zealand and win over Argentina.
“Better discipline. More continuity in how we play, which leads to more pressure being put on the opposition constantly,” he said.
“The same intent we had in the first half (against Argentina), the same desire we had in the last five minutes to see out the game. All in all, there’s a mixture of things.
“It’s always about being the best we can be, that will never change. You’ve no right to warrant that the performances are going to be top, top drawer the whole time because of the quality of the opposition. We’re just chasing that.”