Farrell bristles at ‘loaded’ Prendergast questions

Quilter Nations Series: Ireland v South Africa

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 22 November Kick-off: 17:40 GMT

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell hit back at “loaded questions” as he defended fly-half Sam Prendergast before Saturday’s Test against world champions South Africa.

Prendergast started last week’s 46-19 win over Australia after Jack Crowley wore the number 10 jersey against New Zealand and Japan.

While Leinster’s Prendergast shone in attack against the Wallabies, the 22-year-old’s weakness in the tackle was exposed when Len Ikitau barged past him to score Australia’s first try.

Asked if he wanted to see more physicality from Prendergast, Farrell said: “I understand the question and it’s a question that obviously keeps popping up, but I think Sam’s ability as a fly-half far outweighs a work-on within his game.

“I thought he was tremendous last week, his skillset has been fantastic for all to see and I think everyone needs to look through a little bit of a work-on because everyone’s got work-ons and will continue to have work-ons throughout.

“That’s up to us as coaches and the rest of the players to keep on working on them.”

Pressed if he had spoken to Prendergast about his technique and body position, Farrell responded: “I understand your question again, but they’re loaded questions, do you know what I mean?

“Because then it’s obvious we have to talk about that, but your question could be asked about any single player throughout.

“Of course, we constantly talk to individuals about all aspects of their play, so to think that we’re just focusing on one aspect of one player is not right.

Speaking about an hour before Farrell’s team was confirmed, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus said he feels that, despite perceptions, there is a “toughness” in Prendergast’s game.

“He’s a big fellow, it looks like he always wants the ball in his hands, and he’s got guts,” said Erasmus.

“I think people are talking about his tackling, that there’s maybe a weakness there, but I’ve seen him go really hard and he’s a big boy, and he looks pretty fit.

“I read a bit about his background, I think he’s got a toughness about him.”

South Africa have not beaten Ireland in Dublin since 2012 but come into Saturday’s game in excellent form, with the 32-17 victory over Six Nations champions France in Paris an especially eye-catching result given Lood de Jager’s first-half red card.

And Farrell sees Saturday’s contest with the back-to-back World Cup winners as a robust examination for his squad in their final game before the 2026 Six Nations.

“We’ve been talking a lot about resilience within our game over the 18 months, and there’s been some learnings from that along the way, and that was pretty good last week,” he said.

“I suppose that’ll get tested to the full this weekend. So I don’t think we’re just learning about individuals. We’re learning about our game and how we’re going to progress with that over the next couple of years.”

Farrell added that matching the Springboks’ immense physicality will be key for his side on Saturday.

“It has to be a given, because if you don’t show up with that frame of mind you’re on the backward step straight away,” he added.

“It is an absolute given in any single Test match, that’s for sure. But certainly it’s highlighted even more so against the best team in the world at this moment in time.

“What is part of their DNA has continued to be part of their DNA throughout and it’s only getting better – their collision work and their carrying in the contact areas.