ANDY FARRELL HIGHLIGHTED the confidence Jack Crowley is showing on the pitch in explaining his decision to start the Munster player at out-half against England this weekend.

Crowley is back in the starting team for the first time since November, having been the starting 10 in the opening two autumn games against New Zealand and Japan.

Sam Prendergast has been Farrell’s preferred option at 10 recently, but has struggled for form this year. In last season’s Six Nations, Prendergast started Ireland’s opening four fixtures, with Crowley coming in at 10 for the final game against Italy.

Prendergast came into this Six Nations as the first-choice again, but has had tough outings against France and Italy over the last two weekends. This week he drops out of the 23 completely as Crowley steps back in at out-half. 

Farrell admitted both players were not in particularly strong form ahead of the championship, but explained he has been impressed by Crowley’s attitude and form since coming into camp.

“Because of what we’ve seen and how he’s come through and performed and playing confidently,” Farrell said.

“I think the two lads probably came in to camp, I think they’ve probably been in better form. I’m not saying they were in bad form, in better form, but you see during training which way that you’re going to go through performance, etc. You back what you see and all of that.

I suppose sometimes you see people come from the back, have nothing to lose and then just rip in.

“And we’ve not just seen that with Jack, we’ve seen it with James Ryan – not selected to start in the first game, came on against France and had a storming game and has continued that.

“I saw that with James as well with the Lions, when he was behind the eight-ball there with a quad injury and he was chasing his tail to try and get into the squad and played his best rugby within that tour.

“That’s because people are able to sit back a bit, make sense of it and rip into the performance.  I think you saw that with Jack’s performance last week.”

Farrell said the feedback offered to Prendergast this week in explaining the decision was no different to any chat he has with a player around selection.

“Everyone gets feedback and we talk it through and we use it in the right manner to see where we’re going to go in the not too distant future.  So, it’s the same for everyone.

Sam’s a fantastic international player. He’s on a journey that’s obviously learning like all of us. That will never stop.

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“It’s the same for Ciarán Frawley, like, we’ve talked all along about the four lads (out-halves) competing against one another and the balance is right for this team this weekend.”

With Prendergast missing out on the 23, Frawley returns to the side and is in line to feature for the first time since last summer’s tour to Georgia and Portugal.

“He’s 100% excited. He’s been certainly frustrated, you know, with the lack of game time, certainly in the autumn. But being able to give him the game there in the Ireland XV obviously kept him ticking over.

“And for what we’ve seen in training, how sharp he is and how eager he is to get going and the balance that he gives us on the bench, he’ll be ready to go.”