Jack Crowley will likely win his 19th Ireland cap on Saturday, but there's no doubt this would have been one of his most challenging weeks as a professional rugby player.
Crowley will start on the bench on Saturday as 21-year-old Sam Prendergast is given the number 10 shirt in his third appearance for Ireland.
The young Bandon man played every minute of Ireland's 2024 victorious Six Nations campaign.
His worst performance in an Ireland jersey came against the All Blacks at the beginning of November, but he was hardly alone in underperforming.
Crowley was brilliant against Argentina the week after and as many analysts have flagged, Ireland did not score when he was off the pitch in either of the two games he's started this month.
Regardless, Andy Farrell has opted to give Prendergast another run at 10 for tomorrow's game. It's a bold move, given the quality of the opposition. Prendergast is in the strange position of being third or fourth choice outhalf for his club, and Farrell seems committed to exposing him to rugby at the rarefied air of Test level.
Questions over Jack Crowley's media appearance this week
One minor aspect to the selection debate that has irked some people was the decision to place Jack Crowley up for media interviews this week.
Crowley conducted roundtable interviews with Ireland's rugby journalists and posed for photography this past Tuesday, as is standard practice during the international window.
The IRFU's media team will put up a player for an interview early in the week. The interviews are embargoed and usually appear on matchday.
These roundtable events are usually the first place where a coach will tip his hand to weekend selection.
It would be unheard of for, say, an injured player or a fringe player to be put up for interviews.
For example, photographs of Sam Prendergast popped up in the Sportsfile feed on the Tuesday before the Fiji game, as he was put up for media that same day. 48 hours later, he was named to start at 10 in that fixture.
19 November 2024; Sam Prendergast poses for a portrait during an Ireland Rugby media conference at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
So when photos of Jack Crowley appeared in the Sportsfile feed from Ireland camp this past Tuesday, many presumed this was proof that Crowley would be starting against Australia.
26 November 2024; Jack Crowley poses for a portrait during an Ireland Rugby media conference at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Reports from Ireland camp surfaced on Wednesday evening, however, that it would be Prendergast starting at 10.
While the general public won't be too bothered with the mechanics of these media days, it's irrefutable that Jack Crowley was put in an awkward spot by having to face the press pack this week.
Crowley would have had to face questions about his battle for the 10 jersey with Prendergast with the knowledge that he'd most likely be on the bench.
Cian Tracey of the Irish Independent shed light on the process on Thursday's Indo Sport podcast for anyone curious how it all works. Tracey said while selection was not announced to the squad until Wednesday morning, the players would have a keen sense of Farrell's thinking in terms of selection from training that week.
He described Crowley's mood as 'low and a bit down' during the roundtables, which isn't a massive surprise.
And while it's not unprecedented for a bench player to conduct media duties - Cian Healy was the player sent before the media ahead of the Argentina game where he matched Brian O'Driscoll's cap record - perhaps there was a better option than Crowley, in this of all weeks.
Life at the elite end of professional sport is a brutal business. Just look at Ciarán Frawley, who was Ireland's saviour this summer. He has now missed out on the last two Ireland squads. Crowley will face fare sterner challenges than this week's media briefing, no doubt.
It will be fascinating to see Jack Crowley's response, both tomorrow and in the matches to come.
