While Crowley has been given another chance after being withdrawn just before the hour mark against New Zealand, the uncapped Sam Prendergast is set to make his debut having replaced his Leinster team-mate Ciaran Frawley on the bench.
Prendergast was one of the stars of Ireland’s Under-20s Six Nations Grand Slam win in 2023 and also impressed during this year’s Emerging Ireland series in South Africa, starting three games at fly-half in the space of the week.
“He’s ready,” Farrell said of 21-year-old Prendergast.
“For a young fella who has not had much game time provincially, he’s obviously had more of late, but in an ironic way he’s been patient enough because in his own mind he’s thought he’s been ready for quite some time. He’s that type of kid, he’s confident.
“The experience he’s had around the squad, he’s a lot more comfortable in his own skin. The reason for taking him on the Emerging [Ireland] tour was to make sure he understood what it was to grab hold of his team and show that he’s in charge and he showed that in abundance.
“We’ve seen the knock-on effect of that in the squad the past couple of weeks.”