IRELAND BOSS ANDY Farrell expressed his excitement about handing 21-year-old hooker Gus McCarthy and 24-year-old Ulster flanker Cormac Izuchukwu their Test debuts against Fiji this Saturday.

McCarthy wasn’t even part of Ireland’s main squad for this window but having joined the group as a “training panellist” for their camp in Portugal ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, the Leinster academy hooker impressed Farrell and his coaches.

McCarthy was the Ireland U20s captain in 2023 as they won a Grand Slam and reached the World Cup final.

McCarthy made his senior Leinster debut off the bench against the Stormers last season, while injuries to Rónan Kelleher and Dan Sheehan meant McCarthy made five senior appearances for Leinster early this season. He was also part of the Emerging Ireland tour in October.

Meanwhile, Ulster’s Izuchukwu has taken a different route to this point. He wasn’t a schoolboy star in Roscrea College and was playing amateur club rugby in Scotland when the IRFU brought him back into the fold through the Ireland 7s squad.

He has been on the Emerging Ireland tours in 2022 and this year, while making progress in the second row and back row with Ulster, particularly after the appointment of Richie Murphy last season.

Now, McCarthy and Izuchukwu will step up for Ireland against Fiji.

“Loads and loads of potential, obviously,” said Farrell this evening when asked what excites him about the pair of forwards.

“I suppose Izzy has been in and around the squad now for a while actually. The first Emerging Ireland is when we first came across his ability, his athleticism, his point of difference, and since then – I know that’s a couple of years ago – the improvement and maturity of his game because he was young in as far as the 15-a-side game when the first Emerging tour was on.

“The difference between the first tour and the second tour was chalk and cheese. His ability, point of difference, his potential with that maturity, he deserves a shot to show what he’s got.

Gus McCarthy at Ireland training. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

“Gus, what a rise in such a short space of time. Obviously coming from the 20s and being successful there, he’s been a captain for a long time now and you can see why because you can see his maturity in how he goes about the game. But rugby is a strange thing.

“You think there’s a pecking order and all of a sudden a couple of players get an injury then a kid gets an opportunity and he shows up really well when we take him on the training week with us as a development player. He showed up unbelievably well and he’s forced our arm to keep him in the squad, first and foremost.

“And he deserves a shot to see what he can do as well.”

21-year-old Sam Prendergast starts at out-half this weekend having made his debut off the bench in the win over Argentina last Friday night.

Prendergast toured South Africa with Farrell’s squad last summer, then returned there with Emerging Ireland in October as he started all three games on that trip.

Farrell believes the Leinster man, who has made just 20 appearances for his province, is ready to guide the team from the number 10 shirt.

“I’m confident from what we’ve seen,” said Farrell.

“We took him on the Emerging and he played in all of those games and the aim of that was for him to grab hold of that team and make sure that he treated it like his own as though he was in charge.

“He did that in spades and this week we’ve seen the benefit of that. We need to see it transfer obviously.

“His character is composed, confident but yet not over-confident. He’s assertive in what he wants and he has a nice way about how he goes about his business.”

Ulster man Jacob Stockdale returns on the left wing for Ireland, having last played in the pre-World Cup game against Samoa last year.

Jacob Stockdale is back in the Ireland team. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

“He deserves it,” said Farrell of Stockdale.

“His form has been great. He’s been back in the fold with us, albeit not getting an opportunity, over the last 12 months and we’ve seen that improvement within his game. He’s chomping at the bit and this is his chance to show us what he’s about at this level again.”

Ulster tighthead Tom O’Toole will cover loosehead prop from the bench, having been training on that side of the scrum with Ireland over the past year.

Cian Healy was fit but doesn’t feature in the matchday 23 so he won’t have the chance to set a new all-time Ireland caps record this weekend.

“It’s all about planning and looking at next steps,” said Farrell. “Tom’s been training away and improving and progressing in the loosehead area so we want to see how that goes this weekend.”

And the Irish bench also features Ciarán Frawley, who will be looking to bounce back after a tough outing as a replacement in the defeat to New Zealand two weekends ago.

“Just to be himself,” said Farrell when asked what he wants to see from the Leinster playmaker.

“I mean, things happen, don’t they? Sometimes you have a couple of errors and you then lose the run of yourself a little bit, that’s human nature, 100%, and that’s certainly not how Frawls is as a player.

Tadhg Furlong [right] remains sidelined. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

“He’s super excited that he gets another chance to right the wrongs of a couple of weeks ago and we’re excited about seeing him play because he’s a top-quality player.”

First-choice tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong remains sidelined due to a hamstring issue that has kept him out of the autumn Tests so far.

That means Thomas Clarkson gets another chance on the bench after his debut against Argentina last weekend.

“He [Furlong] tried his best,” said Farrell. “I feel for him. It’s been tough because everyone is desperate to play for Ireland and he’s worked really hard to try and get back there and we were hoping it was going to be this week.

“You’re always trying to push on to the next stage and get through that and he didn’t quite manage that.”