Andy Farrell explains Sam Prendergast decision as youngster gets Austalia nod

Andy Farrell has backed Sam Prendergast to make his mark against Australia this Saturday, picking the 21 year-old to start ahead of Jack Crowley.It is the biggest gamble of Andy Farrell's five-year reign to date. There is nothing comparable—he rarely picks a player under the age of 24.

"There are a couple of things," said the Ireland coach of Prendergast, "I think he deserves it.

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"I thought he played pretty well. He has trained pretty well over the course of this autumn series as well, so there's another chance there to lead the week and grow in that manner."Obviously the opportunity to play in a big game along with a good side behind him. For the likes of himself and Gus McCarthy and a few others actually, hopefully you combine all of that together and it kicks them on for the future."We want him to grow on the performance of last week, you know? I thought, and so did he, that his performance was good."A few errors were thrown in there, I thought he was nice and composed... how he controlled the bench coming off the bench against Argentina as well. You can throw that into the mix. Putting it all together in an 80 minutes performance is a big occasion for everyone involved."Munster's no. 10 Crowley, who started the opening November games against New Zealand and Argentina, has been dropped to the bench."Jack's played very well for us for a good while now, and played in a lot of big games as well. So we know as far as that's concerned what we've got, although there's a lot of improvement to be had and to be seen with Jack and Ciarán Frawley, etc."But I suppose it's pretty similar to Conor [Murray]. Conor's an unbelievably trusted member of our staff, as is Jack. Craig played well, he deserves his chance to play in a big game also, so it goes through the squad."There is the secondary, taking on his former boss, Joe Schmidt, in Dublin."I love it, it is a great story. Joe deserves all the accolades. He is the most successful coach in Irish rugby when you look at his time in Dublin. Overall there is a lot for Ireland to thank him for."I'm very grateful for that opportunity from Joe and David Nucifora bringing me over here."On top of that, that experience that I've gained under Joe, seeing how he does it on the inside is invaluable... not just to me, but to everyone who has been coached by him. That's a privilege."Then, obviously, coaching against him for New Zealand. It's not as high profile because he wasn't head coach, but it was because you could see his DNA all over that anyway."We've been here a little bit before, but when he comes back to these shores he should be celebrated for everything that he's done to Irish rugby."Cian Healy as he is set to move to 134 caps, past Brian O'Driscoll tally of 133, should he be used from the bench.Ireland (v Australia): Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)Andrew Porter (Leinster), Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Joe McCarthy (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster)Replacements: Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Peter O'Mahony (Munster), Craig Casey (Munster), Jack Crowley (Munster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster).

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