O’Gara urges caution on Prendergast–Crowley experiment
SPOTLIGHT: Former Irish international Ronan O’Gara believes caution is required amid the growing scrutiny around Ireland’s flyhalf debate.
O’Gara, who watched Sam Prendergast start in Paris before Jack Crowley entered the fray early in the second half, is not yet convinced the pair should be deployed together, assuming the Leinster youngster remains at No.10.
The La Rochelle head coach questioned whether Prendergast is physically ready to shift further out, stressing the importance of established combinations in midfield.
“I don’t think his body is ready for Test rugby at 12 or 15,” O’Gara said. “He needs to get stronger. Having played 10, the connection with your 12 is vital.
“Would I like the idea of two ball-players? Starting with two 10s and trying to reposition one is a big ask against modern centres.”
Speaking at the launch of Biggs and ROG On The Fly, O’Gara believed that Gonzalo Quesada’s side would arrive with plenty of ammunition.
O’Gara also believes Italy remain under-appreciated within the Six Nations and have the capacity to give an Irish team licking its wounds a serious examination this weekend, according to
Andy Farrell’s side were put to the sword by France in a sobering opening 40 minutes in Paris last week, though a second-half rally did at least give grounds for optimism heading into round 2.
Now they host an Italian side bouncing into Dublin on the back of a gritty win over Scotland last Saturday.
“Italy are still under-appreciated,” he said. “I watched them against South Africa in the autumn. They created problems for South Africa, who pulled away in the end.
“They have got a really good coaching ticket, are well drilled and they know where their strengths are. They have confidence in what they do and what they want to do.
“Ireland have injuries and a loss of confidence, which makes it difficult. This weekend, with Twickenham to come, becomes very important for Ireland.”
Regardless, the outlook is far from doom and gloom in O’Gara’s book. The 128-cap international says the list of absentees for Farrell hasn’t been sufficiently acknowledged in all the postmortems.
“When you take out James Lowe, Hugo Keenan, Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Ryan Baird, Ireland have never and will never cope with that amount of talent taken out of the team,” he said.
“There is the argument, ‘what’s coming behind them? Any team, especially Ireland, will struggle when missing so many starters. That has been brushed under the carpet and hasn’t been alluded to enough.”
