Simon Easterby says both Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley will play a big role for Ireland in the Six Nations.
The battle for the No 10 shirt will begin in earnest when the team begin training in Portugal this afternoon, but the head coach said that no matter the pecking order the duo will both be important players when the team take on England on Saturday week.
Crowley wore the shirt in the first nine games of 2024, before Prendergast started against Fiji and Australia in November and the 21-year-old has impressed for Leinster in the weeks since.
His Munster rival hit form against Northampton Saints last weekend and will be determined to win back the jersey ahead of the Guinness Six Nations opener.
“Those two in particular have come in with a bit of form and I thought Jack played really well in Northampton,” Easterby said.
“Even though Munster lost the game, they played really well. Fine margins from the game went for Northampton.
“Sam has had great opportunity in Leinster since we broke up from the November internationals and he’s really taken that.
“Ciarán Frawley’s had a few injuries since November and that’s given Sam more opportunity and he’s been able to spend more time in that jersey which has been great for us, and there’s always a balance between who starts and who comes off the bench.
“That guy off the bench can often have a massive as Jack did in the autumn, as Ciarán Frawley did in South Africa.
“So, I think the dynamics of whoever starts and whoever comes off the bench can work from week to week.
“You need to someone to start the game well, of course you do, but you also need someone strong enough and ballsy enough to do something like Ciarán Frawley did in South Africa.”
Easterby was speaking at the Six Nations launch in Rome this morning and he and Caelan Doris fly to Lisbon and drive to the Algarve tonight. The rest of the squad trained in Dublin this morning and will travel to Portugal tomorrow.
Dan Sheehan, James Lowe and Jack Boyle have remained with Leinster and will be involved against the Stormers on Saturday before flying out on Sunday, while Caolin Blade will play for Connacht against Glasgow Warriors on Friday night.
Ireland are looking for a better performance than they delivered in November when they started slowly against New Zealand and spluttered to wins over Argentina, Fiji and Australia.
That window was just six games into the provincial season and Easterby believes the players are coming into the Six Nations camp in better form as a result of playing for their provinces in Europe in recent weeks.
“It’s great, I think maybe that early part of the season players are coming back in slightly different times, aren’t they?” he said.
“But there was a nice chunk of games for players, towards the back end of those European games there’s some meaningful rugby, a bit of jeopardy.
“So, players are under a little bit more pressure, aren’t they?
“Every game had something riding on it, which is great for us because they come with that form and a little bit of pressure that they’ve been through in the last few weeks.
“It’s good, everyone’s come bouncing into camp and, yeah, it felt good yesterday when we got back together.”
Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby during the launch of the Guinness Six Nations at Spazio Field in Rome, Italy today. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Easterby is enjoying the challenge of stepping into Andy Farrell’s shoes while the Ireland coach is away on Lions duty.
“Listen, it’s an incredible setting and I’m incredibly honoured to be in this position,” he said.
“I guess, I’m trying to embrace everything. Trying to build continuity on everything we’ve done before.
“Because the competition is so finely balanced in terms of each game, the momentum you can create.
“I’m hugely excited about the group of players we’ve got to work with, the coaches and the continuity in selection.
“There’s not a lot of change from the autumn, not a lot of change from the last Six Nations.
“But the players are a year older, they’ve got a year’s more experience for the ones who haven’t been around that long.
“There also hugely motivated to go on and keep being successful and staying ahead of the other teams.”
“It’s a little bit different. There’s a few more things to deal with, this being one of them.
“I’ve loved my time working under Joe (Schmidt) and Faz (Farrell). I get to work with good people every day, not just the coaching group but the staff that we have, the players, an unbelievable group of people who are striving in one direction to try and do something special.
“I’m really fortunate and I’ve been very, very lucky to be in this position now.
“After 10 or 11 years in an assistant role, I genuinely feel fortunate that I’ve had that long in the role and this is an opportunity for me to try and make sure we kick on, keep evolving and that’s what we need to do to be successful this year.”