Andy Farrell has delivered a massive vote of confidence in Sam Prendergast after sticking with the Leinster fly-half for this Saturday’s clash with South Africa at the Aviva Stadium.
Having come off the bench against New Zealand and Japan, Prendergast was promoted to the starting XV for last week’s win over Australia, in which he dazzled in attack.
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Farrell was expected to reinstate Jack Crowley for the visit of the Springboks, but Prendergast has retained his place in the team.
It’s the biggest selection call the Ireland head coach has made for the final test of the November internationals, especially against the immense physicality expected from the Boks.
Prendergast’s physicality has been questioned repeatedly since he made his Ireland debut, and the 22-year-old’s tackling was suspect once again against the Wallabies.
On Thursday, head coach Farrell argued that Prendergast’s dynamism in attack outweighs his defensive culpabilities – and grew visibly frustrated when he received some push-back on said weaknesses.
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Andy Farrell gives tetchy response to Sam Prendergast question
Andy Farrell not happy answering questions about Sam Prendergast’s defensive ‘work-ons’
Similar questions asked about Stockdale & Lowe, for example, at different times during his tenure. Most were legitimate, not “loaded”
Big test for Sam on Saturday 🇿🇦pic.twitter.com/5isJTbGbtb
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) November 20, 2025
In an exchange captured in footage from Andy Farrell’s press conference on Thursday evening, the Ireland head coach initially praised Sam Prendergast’s attacking abilities.
“I think Sam’s ability as a fly-half far outweighs any work-ons within his game, I thought he was tremendous last week,” Farrell said of the Leinster fly-half.
“His skill-set has been fantastic for all to see, and I think everyone needs to look through a little bit. Everyone’s got work-ons, will continue to have work-ons throughout, and that’s up to us as coaches and players to keep on working on them.”
However, when a follow-up question came about Prendergast’s weaknesses in defence, Farrell became far more irritated.
Farrell leaned forward and accused the journalist of asking “loaded” questions, and delivered an impassioned defence of his young star.
I understand your question but, again, they’re loaded questions. Because, then, it’s obvious that we have to talk about that.
Your question could be asked about any single player throughout. Of course we constantly talk to individuals about all aspects of the play. To think that we’re just focusing on one aspect of one player is not right.
For example, I spoke to our two leaders yesterday about certain aspects of their game – I’m talking about Caelan [Doris] and Dan Sheehan, world class players – and they agreed with the work-ons.
It is constant, throughout, for every single member of every single squad in world rugby.
Though relatively tame, the exchange was very out-of-character for a man who has normally been one of the coolest men in rugby when conducting press duties.
It’s evident that the constant chatter about Sam Prendergast is beginning to get to Andy Farrell – one can only hope it has not had a similar effect on the fly-half himself.
Prendergast will hope to deliver a big performance against the world champions to vindicate his head coach’s faith in him.
Ireland take on South Africa on Saturday evening. Kick-off is at 5:40pm in the Aviva Stadium, with the game live on RTÉ 2.
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