While Crowley has been given another chance after being withdrawn just before the hour mark against New Zealand, the uncapped Sam Prendergast is set to make his debut having replaced his Leinster team-mate Ciaran Frawley on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.
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“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.”
‘Sickening,’ says Wayne Mardle as Luke Littler makes frank admission after storming through Grand Slam of Darts group
The Nuke – who was serenaded by the crowd – won the Bull backstage and led 3-2 at the first TV break.
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De Decker then turned it around to go 8-4 ahead and even had darts to go 9-5 up.
But he had his wobbles late on – including when he went for the bull to secure a Big Fish finale – and Littler ramped up the pressure and enjoyed some luck to record one of his best wins of 2024.
Gian van Veen crushed Ryan Joyce 10-2 with a 106.45 average, seven 180s and a success rate of more than 50 per cent on his doubles earlier on in the night.
IRVING, Texas – Ceremonial weigh-ins for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card take place Thursday, and you can watch a live stream of the proceedings here on MMA Junkie at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).
The ceremonial weigh-ins take place at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, hosts Friday’s fight card (Netflix).
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Paul vs. Tyson.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
England head coach Borthwick has made four changes from the side beaten by Australia in their last outing, including the reintroduction of full-back Freddie Steward and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet.
George says both players are “frothing” at the prospect of facing South Africa.
“They are ready to take their opportunity because of all the work they have put in off the field,” he added.
“They have trained brilliantly and the nice thing is they are not coming in with one or two caps. They have played at international level and they are frothing at the bit to get involved.
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“Whenever that ball goes in the air, the expectation is to catch the ball. Freddie [Steward] retrieves more ball for us than anyone and he is excellent in that area.
“The South African gameplan lends itself to putting the ball in the air a bit more, but there is no better man to have back there.”
England have not won at home since March when they beat Ireland in the Six Nations and George says the hosts need a result to match their performances.
“We always feel pressure to win,” said the 34-year-old.
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“We know that the fans want a win and we want to bring that for them. They have been brilliant and we have spoken a lot about this connection with the fans, but I’m aware the performance only goes so far and we need to bring the result.
“I want the Allianz to believe we can win because we believe we can win.”
On the day he debuted in the UFC, Bo Nickal was already one of the most accomplished wrestlers to set foot in the octagon as a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion and he’d like to see more of those athletes join him in the sport.
Ahead of his return at UFC 309, Nickal revealed his hopes that more high-level wrestlers start making the transition to fighting like 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, who became a primary training partner for Jon Jones as he prepared for his fight against Stipe Miocic on Saturday.
“I would love that,” Nickal said during UFC 309 media day. “I would love to see as many high-level wrestlers as possible transition over to MMA. I think that the last decade or so, we really haven’t had the best collegiate wrestlers move into MMA. You have guys that have had success but we haven’t had the best of the best.
“So guys like Gable Steveson, it would amazing to see him transition over. I think that American collegiate style wrestling would take over the sport in short order.”
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In addition to his comments about wrestlers making the move to MMA, Nickal also addressed his long layoff between fights and why he was OK with taking time off between his appearance at UFC 300 and returning at UFC 309 where he faces Paul Craig. Nickal also discussed Khamzat Chimaev’s recent win over Robert Whittaker and how far he has to go before he could potentially face the Chechen mauler.
ENGLAND fans were hit by lasers during their clash with Greece.
The Three Lions were treated with a hostile atmosphere in Athens as they looked to secure a win to keep alive their hopes of winning their Nations League group.
Lee Carlsey’s side got off to a quick start as Jude Bellingham linked with Noni Madueke who slid across for Ollie Watkins to score.
But moments later Bellingham and the rest of his team-mates were targeted by lasers pointed from the stands.
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Bellingham and Pickford were hit in the face by the green lights, which plagued England throughout the first half.
It comes after Chelsea players also had to combat lasers in a recent trip to Greek side Panathinaikos.
Christopher Nkunku was blasted by the same green light as he stepped up to take a penalty in the Europa Conference League clash, which he scored.
England fans slammed the behaviour of those inside the stadium and condemned the use of lasers.
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One fan said: “See laser pens are alive and well in Greece 🤦♂️”
Another added: “Some t*** with a laser at the England game. I hope they stand on Lego.”
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