Andy Farrell has hit out at the “keyboard warriors” who have contributed to the negative and often nasty targeting of his young outhalves Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley on social media over the past year or two.
Being asked about his selection at outhalf for next Saturday’s Six Nations match against England at Twickenham prompted the Irish head coach to vent his frustrations.
“Do you know what, I might be talking out of school here, but in my opinion, for what’s gone on over the last year or something, especially with the keyboard warriors, I think people need to ask themselves, really, sometimes, ‘Are we Irish? Do we want people to do well or not?’” said Farrell, scarcely able to conceal his incredulity or anger.
“It can be tough for these kids. I’ve seen it, to-ing and fro-ing with both of them, and both of them are strong characters. It takes a lot to break kids like that. But I’ve seen it affect people.
“So, the keyboard warriors on Twitter, or whatever you call it now, need to cop on and try to help these kids.”
Farrell wondered aloud whether vindictive people hiding under the cloak of anonymity should be given any oxygen, albeit he appreciated the outhalf issue is worthy of debate.
As for the groans after each of Prendergast’s two missed conversions, Farrell said: “I’ve heard worse than that, and I’ve had worse groans that that, believe me. Everyone is allowed to do that.”
Much has been made of the huge cheer that greeted the introduction of Crowley for Prendergast in the 56th minute, but the notion that this was partially a negative response directed at the latter also angered Farrell.
Sam Prendergast endured some tough moments during Ireland’s hard-fought win over Italy on Saturday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
“No, I don’t believe that. No. You’re making that up 100 per cent. I heard the cheer for Jack. That’s for Jack. Jack’s a good lad, you know? He’s a good player. And Munster supporters and Irish supporters are allowed to cheer that. We don’t need to make it out to be something it’s not.”
There were other factors in Ireland achieving more tempo after the change at outhalf, not least the introduction of a quartet of Lions four minutes previously. But it would appear that Crowley’s display has forced Farrell’s hand for Twickenham, albeit the Munster player inadvertently kicked the game’s last penalty dead when Ireland were seeking a bonus-point try.
“We’ll see, we’ll see, but Jack did pretty well, didn’t he? He’s gutted about the kick into the corner obviously, but I said to him he did a lot more than that for us. He did a lot more good for us than harm and he can be proud of his performance today.”
As for Prendergast’s performance, Farrell said: “He’d be frustrated with bits. These things will stand to them, as in that’s the journey, that’s the career. Down the line, these two lads, and others, they will be the players that they want to be. Everyone goes through these types of scenarios.”
Prendergast only turned 23 last Thursday, and, when reminded that Johnny Sexton still hadn’t won his first cap at that age, Farrell said: “They’re young lads and good lads as well. We need to back them.”
Farrell said he had no regrets about giving Prendergast his first cap at the age of 21 against Argentina in 2024.
“No, I’ve no problem at all. He was playing outstanding rugby and he will continue to do that.”
Asked whether the noise around the two outhalves has ever influenced his selection, Farrell said: “These things ebb and flow, don’t they? Everyone’s going through different types of feelings the whole time. I’ve no doubt Jack felt there was nothing to lose. Jack Conan came on last week and played really well off the bench. So did James Ryan. It’s a little bit easier in that regard but he still did it, Jack, so fair play to him.”
Cormac Izuchukwu proved to be a valuable addition to Ireland’s team for Saturday’s match against Italy, especially at the lineout. Photograph: Inpho
Farrell was entitled to be pleased with the performances of Robert Baloucoune and Cormac Izuchukwu, saying of the latter: “He’s a fantastic lineout forward.”
However, the scrum was again an Achilles’ heel, with Farrell saying this would be “a good learning for the experienced ones like Tadhg [Furlong] and Dan [Sheehan] and Rónan [Kelleher].
“The overriding part of it for me is that we was obviously under pressure against an excellent, dynamic, powerful Italian scrum. But Tom O’Toole came through with flying colours and that was a fantastic story.”
Ireland still sit fifth in the table and will be underdogs against a wounded England after Scotland ended their 12-match winning run with a 31-20 victory in Murrayfield.
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“You could say we have nothing to lose, but we do,” said Farrell. “We want to win. We want to play better. We want to learn from a big-game experience away from home. Paris is a tough ask, and Twickenham is a similar type of task. So we need to grow through that experience and see what we can do with it.
“I’ve no doubt people are going to write us off. These lads are learning fast on the job. Under extreme pressure, from us as a group and from our own expectation of trying to push them as quickly as we possibly can, because time is always of the essence at international rugby.
“But also, we need to make sure that we understand where we’re at as a group. The people that we’ve got missing, the experience that we’re trying to give and how that’s going to stand to us down the line.”