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In the summer of 1979 Irish rugby jumped off a lower shelf in the nation’s sports shopand landed front and centre. This wasn’t prompted by a dramatic development on the field, rather it was a selection decision. Tony Ward, voted the first European Player of the Year two months earlier, was dropped. He had won the award largely for his dazzling form in that season’s Five Nations Championship. Then, ahead of the First Test on Ireland’s tour of Australia, he was canned. It made the six o’clock news.
Ward was a gifted footballer. He would go on to play in the League of Ireland for Limerick United FC, starring for them against Southampton in the Uefa Cup. He looked the part: stocky, sallow, not only could he shoot the lights out but he could step off either foot, leaving opponents on their rear end. If Ireland had a catwalk then Wardy would have been a model.
Then he was gazumped by the frail-looking Ollie Campbell: the holder of just one Ireland cap from three years earlier. After which he had been dropped. The nation struggled to catch its breath.
So, that was the start of Ireland’s fascination with No 10. We’ve had a few compelling, extended episodes in the drama since then. As the IRFU slowly unpacked their kit in the professional era, David Humphreys and Ronan O’Gara were going toe-to-toe for the playmaker’s shirt. Next came O’Gara v Johnny Sexton. By the time Sexton signed off after the 2023 World Cup we were long overdue a fresh ding-dong.
Enter Jack Crowley. The Corkman started for Ireland in the 2024 Six Nations opener in Marseille. He had nine caps by then, but with Sexton off the premises it felt like his first. No bother. The successor played a key role in a statement of takeover. So next we focused on who would fill in when he was injured, or needed a rest.
However, there was something about Crowley’s housekeeping that bothered Andy Farrell. You didn’t think the coach was a neat freak? He is when it comes to following the plan. By the end of that year there was a new roommate in No 10. Sam Prendergast had arrived and a fresh battle was on.
In keeping with the script, Prendergast is from Leinster. O’Gara and Sexton gave us the Munster v Leinster vibe from 2009 through to 2013, and it added fuel to the duel. What we have now however is a dirty protest where all sorts of stuff is thrown at the social media wall.
It’s not just the malevolent looneys online. When, last Saturday, Farrell opened the gate to let Crowley into the Italy game with 25 minutes left the roar from the crowd was instructive, as were some of the comments. If you’re the fella going off then that noise is damaging.
It was also a dig at Farrell, for he is the man in the box pulling the levers. He stuck his neck out to parachute Prendergast in to start the Six Nations campaign last year. It must be painful now having to wind it in again, especially with the current soundtrack of abuse aimed at his players. Given the grief his son Owen endured at the hands of another mob, this is a soap opera Farrell could write, direct and play a part. The angry father would be made for him.
At least Prendergast will be spared that noise against England at Twickenham on Saturday. Rather than travel as 24th man, secretly hoping something dastardly would befall Crowley or Ciarán Frawley, who will cover 10 from the bench, he has the weekend off. Instead, Harry Byrne is the extra whose shift is scheduled to end after the warm-up.
This is not what Farrell envisaged when he was picking Prendergast, and his brother Cian, to start against France just over a fortnight ago. Now both are out of the picture, and the coach’s plan to keep on track with his favourite No 10 has been shunted to a siding.
If Farrell needs comfort from precedent then the sensational swapping of Campbell for Ward all those years ago might help. It was a brave call made on solid reasoning: Campbell was the best man for the job. Ward was badly damaged by the experience, but recovered to set a point-scoring record in a Test match for the Lions in South Africa a year later.
Campbell never looked back. He won the series against Australia – the first southern hemisphere success by a home nation – largely with his right boot. But he was so much more than that. For many of us he was Ireland’s greatest 10. You wonder if Farrell thinks Prendergast, the man he has stood down, can break into the same club.
