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.
