Simon Easterby is backing Sam Prendergast to rise to the challenge in his first away trip as Ireland's out-half.
The 21-year-old has got the nod over Jack Crowley to start Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations meeting with Scotland at Murrayfield (3pm, live on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ Radio 1).
Sunday’s game will be a fifth cap for the Leinster man, but just his first away from Aviva Stadium, facing a Scottish team that are looking to arrest a 10-game losing streak against Ireland.
Prendergast has faced into some famously intimidating atmospheres for Leinster in the last couple of months, helping his side win away to Munster and La Rochelle, while he also scored two tries in the province’s win at Bristol in November.
And Easterby believes those performances have shown his composure on the road.
"We saw when he left Ireland camp in November and had the opportunity to play away from home with Leinster, he handled those pretty well, didn't he," the Ireland interim head coach said after naming his team for Sunday.
"It's early days for him, we know that he has unbelievable talent and the expectation on him probably from himself, but also from the outside world is pretty high at the moment.
"We're trying to support him in the best way we can, to allow him keep growing, keep enjoying those experiences, learning from them, and they're not always going to be perfect. Unless you have them, you won't know how to handle them in the future."
While Prendergast will start for the fourth game in a row, the Kildare man is feeling plenty of heat behind him with the recent form of Jack Crowley.
The Munster out-half took his chance impressively when he was summoned from the bench on 58 minutes against England last week, and steered Ireland home to an ultimately comfortable 27-22 win.
"I think it was another tough selection call, but we felt like the right decision in terms of continuity but also the growth of Sam. We know as well that Jack is itching to get a start in the 10 jersey," added Easterby (above).
"I'm not saying we'll keep that selection right throughout the championship, but this week we feel it's the right thing to do.
"He [Crowley] was disappointed and so were a lot of other players who didn't make either the starting 15 or the bench. I think keeping some continuity with selection was important."
The former Ireland flanker is confident the competition is bringing out the best in both players.
"Jack is clearly disappointed but he's an unbelievable person," he said.
"He's so supportive. He doesn't let his own disappointment reflect on the way he trained yesterday, the way he is in camp, the way he's supporting Sam and the other players.
"He's a great fella and we're fortunate to have those two. Jack played all of last year, he started every game in the Six Nations, he had those experiences.
"We're in a position where we're trying to grow both of them and trying to grow Sam's experiences, not just at home last week in a huge game for him and for us as a team, but also now going away from home."
Easterby did make two changes to his winning team from last week, with Robbie Henshaw partnering Bundee Aki in the centre and Garry Ringrose dropping to the bench, while Peter O’Mahony (below) comes in at blindside flanker in place of Ryan Baird.
O’Mahony’s season has been hampered by injury, with the 35-year-old playing just five times for Munster, while he recently made his return from a calf contusion in their Investec Champions Cup trip to Northampton Saints.
"With Pete, we spoke before the England week and having come into camp with a little bit less rugby under his belt we felt that he needed another week to work on a little bit of conditioning," he added.
"I think he supported the guys last week incredibly well, Bairdo, some his lineout work was excellent - Pete brings that, but he also brings experience which at the moment some other players can't offer.
"It's probably a decision we've been thinking about for a couple of weeks, but after the England performance it was a chance to bring Pete in, bring his experience to the table and keep Bairdo involved off the bench."
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