CLAYTON McMILLAN SAYS Jack Crowley deserves to be Ireland’s starting out-half based on his recent run of form.

Crowley was superb as Munster recorded a bonus-point win away to Leinster last Saturday, and carries that momentum into Ireland camp, where he and Sam Prendergast are competing to be Ireland’s starting out-half against New Zealand in Chicago next weekend.

Prendergast has been Andy Farrell’s preferred option at out-half over the last 12 months but McMillan says the Munster man has put in the body of work to earn his shot in the Ireland 10 shirt again.

“Well on the evidence of what I’ve seen and what I saw on the weekend, I think he deserves an opportunity to jump in the number 10 jersey for Ireland,” McMillan said.

“Obviously that’s not my decision to make, but I’m not sure what else he could have done if last week was an audition.”

McMillan was speaking to the media after naming his team for Saturday’s URC meeting with Connacht [KO 7.45pm].

On the injury front, McMillan says it could be Christmas before Brian Gleeson gets back into a Munster jersey. The back row was forced off with an elbow injury against Leinster and underwent surgery earlier this week, forcing him to pull out of Ireland’s November squad.

“Brian’s had his surgery. It turned out to be a relatively sort of nasty elbow fracture and I think that’s probably going to have him out from six to 10 weeks so it might be closer to the Christmas window before we next see him. It’s really unfortunate after he was named in a supporting role for the Irish team and the time he was out on the field (last weekend), he was impressive.

“That’s a a setback but that happens in rugby. We’re grateful we’ve got someone with the experience of Gavin Coombes to come in and continue the good work he’s been doing.”

Meanwhile Edwin Edogbo is recovering from concussion and sits out Saturday home game.

Scrum-half Paddy Patterson is also sidelined following concussion, meaning Academy scrum-half Jake O’Riordan has been named in a matchday squad for the first time and could debut off the bench.

Diarmuid Barron is nursing a neck strain which is not expected to a long-term issue, while Andrew Smith’s return date is less clear.

“Couple of things going on,” McMillan said of Smith, who was injured just 10 minutes into the Leinster game.

“The hamstring and an MCL injury on the other leg. In the space of five minutes he had a few things go wrong. He’ll bounce back, not entirely sure of timeline.”

McMillan has made a habit of naming his Munster teams a day early, a decision based on his previous routine in Super Rugby. Last week Leinster followed suit in naming their side for the Croke Park game on Thursday, rather than the usual Friday announcement.

“That’s just what I’ve been accustomed to doing,” McMillan said.

“I would be surprised if a team changed anything this close to the game based on a team release. There’s lots of benefit. I think our guys just need to get their heads in the right place, making that public nice and early I think helps. 

“We’ve released a number of players to go and play for their clubs in AIL, we walk through airports where there’s thousands of people, I don’t know what the big need for secrecy is, to be fair.

“I wondered whether others would start doing it and funny enough, the last couple of weeks we’ve seen the same thing.”