Prendergast's Lions 'time will come' - O'Driscoll

Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll believes the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia has come too early for Sam Prendergast.

The Leinster fly-half made his Ireland debut against Argentina in November, and was the starter in the 10 jersey for four of the five games in the Six Nations.

The 22-year-old put in a mixed performance in his province's Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton last weekend, however, and Lions coach Andy Farrell has picked Finn Russell, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith as his fly-half options for the three-Test tour this summer.

"From Sam's point of view, his time will come," O'Driscoll, a four-time tourist with the Lions, told BBC Sport NI.

"He's still only a very young guy. He's still learning his trade and what it takes to kind of boss the team.

"I think it's just one tour too soon for him. In four years' time, he'll be an infinitely different player with way more experience, way more know-how, and way, way more air miles to get a sense as to how to navigate a team of unknowns."

From an Irish perspective, the other notable exclusions were centre Robbie Henshaw and back row Caelan Doris with the latter having been touted as a possible captain only to suffer a shoulder injury in the final game before selection.

O'Driscoll said it will take those who will not travel "a while to get over the disappointment", but described Farrell's selections as "super solid".

"I think it looks like a great squad. I don't think there's too many outliers," he added.

"In truth, I don't think there's any real shocks but it looks like a squad that's very capable of winning a series in Australia."

O'Driscoll was part of two tours to Australia, a 2-1 series defeat in 2001 before victory by the same margin in 2013, although he was famously dropped by Warren Gatland for the deciding Test 12 years ago.

With the Wallabies under the stewardship of his old Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, the former centre believes a win this time around will be a tougher proposition than many have predicted.

Australia had a disastrous World Cup in 2023 under Eddie Jones but have slowly rebuilt under Schmidt, beating England and Wales in November while also running Ireland close.

"We saw their performances, particularly against England and pushing Ireland really hard, in November when they were being written off, so do that at your peril," O'Driscoll said.

"It's a different beast playing at home as well, in front of your own home crowd with the expectation and they're a very proud nation, so all of those factors married together would suggest that Australia will be incredibly competitive and it wouldn't shock me if it went down to a third Test.

"I don't think it's going to be the landslide that some people are anticipating."