{"id":254825,"date":"2026-01-20T20:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T20:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/254825\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T20:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T20:03:09","slug":"picking-harry-byrne-would-be-a-disrupting-selection-perfect-for-what-ireland-needs-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/254825\/","title":{"rendered":"Picking Harry Byrne would be a disrupting selection, perfect for what Ireland needs \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the eve of Andy Farrell<\/a> picking his Six Nations<\/a> championship squad for 2026, Harry Byrne<\/a> will have different thoughts from those of a year ago.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2024, talk was of Byrne making a move to Bristol on a short-term contract. Coach Pat Lam had made inquiries at Leinster with Leo Cullen<\/a>, believing Byrne was the right fit for the Bears. <\/p>\n

Lam needed short-term cover for the injured Dublin-born American international AJ MacGinty, while his other outhalf, England international Max Malins, had suffered a season-ending injury.<\/p>\n

Byrne was in a bind. Leinster<\/a> were stuffed with 10s and Byrne\u2019s injury profile had been party to pushing him towards the back of the bunch. His brother Ross, Ciar\u00e1n Frawley<\/a> and Sam Prendergast<\/a> were all jousting for Cullen\u2019s attention after the retirement of Johnny Sexton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Being allowed to leave Leinster was a double-edged sword. It meant more game time for Byrne, but getting back to Leinster is often harder than it seems. Many have the intention of returning, but not all do.<\/p>\n

In short, Byrne made the move and stayed with Bristol until the end of the season, while his brother Ross went to Gloucester before this season and Frawley announced in December he would join Connacht from next season. <\/p>\n

The time spent with Bristol combined with a healthy run for the 26-year-old has helped Harry Byrne push open doors. Now he could be on the cusp of making another telling move. <\/p>\n

Having become used to the Prendergast duel with Jack Crowley<\/a>, picking Byrne would be a disrupting selection, perfect for what the Irish squad needs, which is another sharp pair of elbows contending for the 10 shirt.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Prendergast of Leinster in action against Bulls in Pretoria last October. Photograph: Christiaan Kotze\/INPHO <\/p>\n

For the November series<\/a>, Prendergast, Crowley and Frawley \u2013 who has been injured, but is available this week for selection for Leinster\u2019s trip to Connacht \u2013 were Andy Farrell\u2019s<\/a> picks for the 34-man squad before Ireland\u2019s opening match against New Zealand<\/a> in Soldier Field. <\/p>\n

But the pieces have moved and Byrne has played his way into becoming part of the conversation and it makes for an interesting dynamic. <\/p>\n

While he has been capped just four times, confidence is rising and there\u2019s a sense he has finally found a rich enough vein of form, nicely timed before Ireland<\/a> face France<\/a> in the opening match of the Six Nations<\/a> in Stade de France on February 5th.<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks ago he landed the match-winning penalty with the game\u2019s final kick in the 83rd minute to seal Leinster\u2019s dramatic 25-24 Champions Cup<\/a> win over La Rochelle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prendergast had missed the second of three conversions following a Josh van der Flier try, when Byrne assumed the goal-kicking and hit the upright after Robbie Henshaw\u2019s try.<\/p>\n

Then when Leinster were handed a last chance from a penalty 10 metres inside the touchline, Byrne made a telling intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry Byrne wanted it,\u201d Leinster and Ireland captain Caelan Doris said afterwards. \u201cI felt confident [in him].\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little on-field discussion about the decision.<\/p>\n

\"HarryHarry Byrne celebrates after kicking a penalty in the last minute of Leinster’s game against La Rochelle. Photograph: Nick Elliott\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Byrne said: \u201cI just said to Caelan, \u2018I want it\u2019. I wanted to take it, I\u2019d taken the one before and hit it off the post, but I\u2019d hit it well. So, I felt I wasn\u2019t going to miss that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then last Saturday Cullen picked Byrne ahead of Prendergast to start against Bayonne for their final Champions Cup pool match in France. On Friday before their match, Cullen said every week was like an audition for players. He is aware of how consequential it is when he picks a starting side for Leinster, especially at outhalf.<\/p>\n

The pair have had an even showing all season, with Byrne making 10 Leinster appearances and Prendergast nine so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve used Sam at 10 and Harry at 12. I think the two of them have been fantastic. I can\u2019t speak highly enough about the two of them,\u201d Cullen said last week<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they both go well, and I hope they both go on to represent Ireland during this Six Nations period coming up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Byrne played for Ireland A against Spain last year, his last cap was almost two years ago against Scotland in the 2024 Six Nations, having made his debut off the bench against the US in the summer of 2021. <\/p>\n

Farrell\u2019s big investment has been Prendergast and Crowley and to change that with a long-term view towards the next Rugby World Cup<\/a> would be a significant move. <\/p>\n

But Farrell also picks players who are in form. In recent months Byrne has probably shown enough of that to expect this year\u2019s squad selection to be a little better than last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the eve of Andy Farrell picking his Six Nations championship squad for 2026, Harry Byrne will have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25747,1452,75642,61,60,1449,43771,11287,28577,43,3654,1255,12918,15551],"class_list":["post-254825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-andy-farrell","tag-france-rugby","tag-harry-byrne","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-jack-crowley","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-leo-cullen","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-world-cup","tag-sam-prendergast","tag-six-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}