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Tom HamiltonFeb 19, 2026, 11:18 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2011 Multiple Authors<\/p>\n Andy Farrell has made five changes to the Ireland side ahead of England on Saturday with Jack Crowley at fly-half and Sam Prendergast left out of the matchday squad.<\/p>\n Alongside Crowley, the quartet of British & Irish Lions Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne and Josh van der Flier also start.<\/p>\n Farrell has opted for a five-three split on the bench with Finlay Bealham, Ciaran Frawley and Tommy O’Brien recalled but there’s no place in the matchday squad for Prendergast, Edwin Edogbo or Cormac Izuchukwu.<\/p>\n Prendergast struggled during last weekend’s unconvincing 20-13 win over Italy, including missing two straightforward conversions, before being replaced by Crowley.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old started all but one of Ireland’s previous seven Six Nations games, with his omission the first time he has been overlooked for a matchday 23 in the championship since his Test debut in November 2024.<\/p>\n Crowley impressed from the bench against the Azzurri, albeit he missed touch with a late penalty as Farrell’s side failed to claim a bonus point.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old played every minute of Ireland’s triumphant 2024 Six Nations campaign but his only start in the tournament following the emergence of Prendergast came in last year’s round-five victory over Italy in Rome.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of Ireland’s most-recent success against the Italians, head coach Farrell hit out at “keyboard warriors” who targeted both Prendergast and Crowley on social media.<\/p>\n Ciaran Frawley, who has not featured at international level since last summer’s 106-7 win over Portugal, will provide back-up for the number 10 role at Twickenham.<\/p>\n Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park is recalled to partner Crowley in the only other alteration to Ireland’s backline.<\/p>\n In three changes to the forward pack, Furlong replaces Thomas Clarkson at tighthead prop, while Beirne and Van der Flier come in for Izuchukwu and Jack Conan in the back row.<\/p>\n – Power rankings: England drop, but by how much?<\/a> Captain Caelan Doris reverts to number eight, with Beirne selected at blindside flanker and Van der Flier at openside.<\/p>\n Ireland have won five of their last six meetings with England but were ultimately denied the Grand Slam in 2024 due to a last-gasp 23-22 round-four loss in London.<\/p>\n Head coach Farrell said: “Games between the two sides have been nip and tuck over recent times and there’s great familiarity and respect across both camps.<\/p>\n “We know their strengths and our aim is to deliver the best version of ourselves to put us in a position to get the performance that we want.<\/p>\n “Backed by thousands of travelling Irish supporters who travel from all over the world whenever we play in Twickenham, it will be another special occasion and a challenge we’re excited to face.”<\/p>\n Ireland team: J Osborne (Leinster); R Baloucoune (Ulster), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), J Lowe (Leinster); J Crowley (Munster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); J Loughman (Munster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), J McCarthy (Leinster), J Ryan (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster), J Van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster capt).<\/p>\n Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), T O’Toole (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht), N Timoney (Ulster), J Conan (Leinster), C Casey (Munster), C Frawley (Leinster), T O’Brien (Leinster).<\/p>\n Information from PA was used in this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom HamiltonFeb 19, 2026, 11:18 PM Close\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2011\u2022\u00a0Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-490284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022\u00a0Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
\u2022\u00a0Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018<\/p>\nSam Prendergast has been left out of the matchday squad altogether for England, with Jack Crowley in at fly-half.\u00a0Seb Daly\/Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n
– Six Nations talking points: England need response<\/a>
– England vs. Ireland, Six Nations: How to watch, kick-off time, team news<\/a><\/p>\n