Farrell 'delighted with both' as fly-half debate goes on
When the Ireland team were presented jerseys for the final Test of 2024 against Australia at their Shelbourne Hotel base on Wednesday evening, they were given them by legendary former fly-half Ollie Campbell.
The irony will not have been lost on experienced watchers of Irish Rugby.
It was Campbell, after all, who formed one half of Ireland's first great number 10 debate.
His back-and-forth with Tony Ward was perhaps the side's most famous divide over the most important jersey in the sport, but sequels would include David Humphreys over Ronan O'Gara and then O'Gara versus Johnny Sexton.
That the latter would become the first name on the teamsheet for over a decade put a temporary halt to such chatter, but the skipper's retirement after last year's World Cup has brought about a widespread renaissance.
Munster's Jack Crowley got the first crack and led the side to a fantastic win against France in the first game of the post-Sexton era that set up a Six Nations title triumph.
The 24-year-old was still in situ by the summer tour to South Africa but the trip ended with replacement Ciaran Frawley snatching glory with a pair of late drop-goals to beat the back-to-back world champions in Durban.
Crowley still started the defeat by the All Blacks to begin this month but underperformed in a showing that was down across the board.
Against Argentina a week later, his strong first-half showing was seemingly lost in the shuffle after the debut of Sam Prendergast off the bench set tongues wagging.
The Leinsterman was handed a first start against Fiji in game three of the autumn, his performance featuring a yellow card, a few mistakes, but plenty of the classy touches that have had the former under-20s standout marked as one to watch for quite some time.
Conventional wisdom still indicated Crowley would return along with a group of frontliners against the Wallabies, especially when he was sat in front of the media in Dublin on Tuesday.
If some attending journalists felt Crowley was downbeat that day, the reason for his demeanour became clear on Thursday when Farrell revealed his team and, a selection that otherwise was a return to the tried and tested, featured Prendergast's name nestled between Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki.
Some, perhaps those looking through Munster red-tinted glasses, have already grown weary of the discourse surrounding the latest next big thing.
Yet, in a game full of subplots, from the upcoming British and Irish Lions tour featuring the two head coaches to an Irish cap record for Cian Healy, come kick-off it felt like all eyes were trained on the 21-year-old in the green 10 jersey.
In the main, Prendergast looked exactly what he is - a hugely promising player with just three caps to his name.
There were some lovely touches, and more evidence of that languid style that seems to give him that extra split-second on the ball, as well as a few moments he would like back, namely a missed conversion and contestable kicks that yard or two too long.
When, with 14 minutes remaining, Crowley entered the fray, he did so with the game in the balance. Ireland were 19-15 behind and pressing to avoid having their 150th anniversary celebrations spoiled by defeat.
After what was surely a difficult week for a player without an abundance of Test experience himself, he contributed to the comeback with a prod in behind that set-up the line-out from which Gus McCarthy scored the winning try.
His heart, though, will have been in his mouth when a kick out on the full gave Australia a chance to launch a late attack from halfway.
'Delighted with them both'
"I thought Sam had some lovely stuff. He made some errors, some kicks that weren't perfect," said Andy Farrell.
"But equally I thought Jack was excellent when he came on.
"He took hold of the game. The little ball that he put into the corner, nice weighted kick, rather than just putting it out. We got the lineout from that that really kicked us on.
"So delighted with them both."
Questions about both have been a feature of this November, with Australia head coach Joe Schmidt neatly summing up how one will now be viewed through the prism of the other.
When asked about the performance of Prendergast, the former Irish coach spoke about a player with "great potential" who had occasionally looked "a little bit flustered, which is unusual for him" against his Wallabies.
Unprompted, he then added he "would be a fan of Jack Crowley as well", calling him he "a super player".
Both now return to their provinces but to differing situations. Crowley is the undisputed first-choice at Munster. The man who finished the autumn in the Irish ten jersey, however, is yet to nail down that jersey at Leinster.
It will be another two months before both are back in green. There will be no prizes for guessing the main topic of debate ahead of Ireland's Six Nations opener against England.
