Sam Prendergast has earned his shot at a “big game”, according to Ireland boss Andy Farrell, who had picked the Leinster out-half ahead of Munster’s Jack Crowley.

The 21-year-old made his debut as a replacement against Argentina two weeks ago and got his first start in the 52-17 win over Fiji last Saturday.

Crowley, who had started all nine games since the World Cup, before the match against Fiji, is on the bench for Saturday’s clash with Australia at Aviva Stadium (3.10pm).

“I think he deserves it,” head coach Farrell told reporters after naming his team on Thursday afternoon.

“I thought he played pretty well. He has trained pretty well over the course of this autumn series as well, so there’s another chance there to lead the week and grow in that manner.

“Obviously the opportunity to play in a big game along with a good side behind him. For the likes of himself and Gus McCarthy and a few others actually, hopefully you combine all of that together and it kicks them on for the future.

“Jack’s played very well for us for a good while now, played in a lot of big games as well, so we know as far as that’s concerned what we’ve got, although there’s a lot of improving to be had and to be seen with Jack and Ciarán Frawley.”

Asked about how the conversation went when telling the 24-year-old Munster back, Farrell said: “It’s the same as every conversation that you have with every player.

“There’s no difference. I know it’s a good story for you guys but there’s no difference between telling a fly-half or a captain or whoever it may be, or an experienced player that this is the way that you’re going to go this week in comparison to someone who you have that type of conversation most weeks with.

“There’s no difference at all, they’re the same people. We tend to be as honest as we possibly can.

“There’s always a reason behind it and the squad that we’ve got they all understand it’s team first and what we need to keep developing us growing as a group.”

Prendergast had an eventful first start. He received a yellow card after eight minutes, the “right call”, according to Farrell, kicked six conversions, mixed good and bad kicks out of hand but directed the play well for the most part.

“To grow on the performance of last week,” was Farrell’s message for the Kildare native.

“I thought, and so did he, that his performance was good.

“A few errors thrown in there, I thought he was nice and composed… how he controlled the bench coming off the bench against Argentina as well. You can throw that into the mix.

“Putting it all together in an 80 minutes performance of a big occasion for everyone involved.”

The Ireland boss, who will temporarily leave the role to take charge of the Lions after the Wallabies game, has made five changes to his side.

James Ryan returns to the second row alongside Joe McCarthy, with Tadhg Beirne reverting to the flank.

Hugo Keenan replaces the injured Jamie Os𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧e at full-back, James Lowe is on the wing for Jacob Stockdale; Jamison Gibson-Park returns to start at scrum-half with Craig Casey on the bench and Rónan Kelleher is named at hooker for Gus McCarthy, who is among the replacements.

Garry Ringrose (below) is among the back cover on the bench after missing out last weekend.

“Garry can cover a couple positions for us and so can the rest of the backs,” said Farrell.

“You think you’ve got all bases covered but you never have really. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a 6:2 or a 5:3 [bench split].

“We’d Caelan Doris, our captain, playing at centre last week, so Garry’s healthy, fit, unbelievably experienced, hungry, he’ll do a good job no matter what position he comes on in.”

The game will mark the first of four head-to-heads between Farrell and former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, with the Lions making the trip to Australia for next summer’s tour.

Farrell earned his ᵴtriƥes as defence coach under the New Zealander, who was part of the All Blacks set-up in 2022 and 2023, for three years before taking the top job at the end of 2019.

“Firstly, I’m very grateful for that opportunity from Joe and David Nucifora bringing me over here,” he said.

“On top of that, that experience that I’ve gained under Joe, seeing how he does it on the inside is invaluable… not just to me, but to everyone who has coached by him. That’s a privilege.

“Then, obviously, coaching against him for New Zealand. It’s not as high profile because he wasn’t head coach, but it was because you could see his DNA all over that anyway.

“We’ve been here a little bit before, but when he comes back to these shores he should be celebrated for everything that he’s done to Irish rugby.”