CASEY BACKS JACK TO BE A PERFECT TEN

IRELAND skipper Craig Casey is looking forward to linking up with his club halfback partner Jack Crowley against Portugal in Lisbon tonight (7pm, Virgin).

- BY DEREK FOLEY

It is the first time they have worn the No9 and No10 green jerseys together since an impressive outing in the first test in South Africa in Pretoria this time last year — a match the Springboks won narrowly, 27-20.

“It's awesome to have three No10s of that calibre in the squad,” says Casey.

“You can't really forget about Ciaran Frawley and what he did last summer (a winning drop-goal in the second Springbok test) as well was unbelievable.

“For us, I think the battle there is huge and it probably will be for the next 10 or so years, so it's probably something they're going to have to get used to and everyone's going to have to get used to.”

Ireland have three new caps in the starting lineup,