Former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton is confident current outhalves Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley will hit their best form in the coming matches.
Now part of Ireland’s coaching set-up, Sexton added it is vital that Ciarán Frawley and Harry Byrne should also be given opportunities to develop in the 10 position.
“(Prendergast and Crowley) both trained really well today,” said Sexton. “It’s important, not only those two, but Harry Byrne and Ciarán Frawley too, that they keep developing and getting game-time.
“There are four guys, and all the criticism from previous cycles is that we didn’t develop guys, that we have relied too heavily on one (player) in some positions.
“We’re doing it a different way now and whether that’s right or wrong, everyone judges it by the outcome. But I know that in games to come, they’re going to hit their best form and they’ll be in a good place.”
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Sexton said the management team had not yet gone through the specific debriefing session following Ireland’s 20-13 Six Nations win over Italy last weekend, a game in which 22-year-old Prendergast started ahead of Crowley, who came on in the second half.
Head coach Andy Farrell has spoken out against the damaging narrative on social media that has surrounded the two players since they were called up to the senior rankswith Ireland.
“We wouldn’t say too much straight after the game. We let things die down, then review it,” said Sexton. “We review it together, very much. Those guys feed back to us as much as we feed back to them.
“Ultimately, we want to know why. Why some things went well, what can we do differently in our prep. As coaches, what do we need to do more of? All those type of things.
“Both of them did some really good things, some work-ons, and some things they need to improve. It’ll be like that for the rest of their careers right until the last day. It’s always like that.”
Sexton drew on his own almost 15-year experience as an international player to add that bad days can help bring players along just as much as good days.
“Even if I go back to some of my experiences, you come off the pitch and you think you’ve had a great game, but you get into a Monday review and the coaches have a few other ideas in terms of how things have gone,” said Sexton.
“They’ll learn from it and keep developing, like they have been.”