Strength in depth is not a term you'll be hearing a lot of over the next year or two when it comes to Irish fly-halves, unless you're a Leinster fan that is.
Johnny Sexton's continued dominance and incredible form would usually be seen as a massive bonus for Ireland, but the fly-half situation occurring at Leinster is a cause for concern for the national side, as it means Joey Carbery is the second choice no.10 for both club and country.
The 22-year-old has to be content with a place on the bench for both sides, replacing Sexton when injured or to see out a game that's already been put to bed. Alternatively he can pick up some game time at fullback, though that's not exactly developing his skill or experience for when he wants to challenge as Sexton's successor.
Then there's Ross Byrne, who's imprssed for Leinster while both Sexton and Carbery were away on Ireland duty. The 23-year-old looks like one of the best talents the country has produced at fly-half in quite some time, but unfortunately he's competing with Carbery for a position in both squads where he still won't be afforded the kind of gametime a developing no.10 needs.
Brian O'Driscoll was in the OTB AM studio to review the weekend's Champions Cup semi-finals, and when Ger Gilroy posed the idea of Sexton taking some time off in the hope that the young pair develop further ahead of next year's World Cup, the former Ireland captain wasn't too optimistic.
"I don't see Johnny saying, "yeah, I'll take six months off". The only thing I'll say is that he's less annoyed these days when he's whipped off after 60 or 70 minutes. Now some of those have been forced through injury, some are when the game has been won and there's no need to keep him out there, so he's starting to get appreciative of the fact that he does need a little bit of minding, so maybe he's not adverse to six months off, but you don't play rugby to train, you just don't".
"That's not his mentality, and I think he would struggle with not having something on a week-to-week basis".
The idea being of course that Sexton takes some time off, effectively wrapping him in cotton wool to prevent any chance of injury ahead of the tournament, and affords the young pair a chance to split his minutes between club and country.
Alternatively, Leinster may end up losing one of the two starlets as there is supposedly pressure from the IRFU and Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt for the province to give one of their academy products to Ulster, whose current depth chart at fly-half is far more sparse.
O'Driscoll agreed that the situation is not ideal, but also said that making decisions ahead of a World Cup may not be the best timing.
"The landscape changes massively if Johnny Sexton takes any time off because then you've got your two no.10 staying put with no pressure on them".
"I'm sure there's lots of conversations to be had over the course of the next six months, maybe even a year, but maybe next season isn't the season to be deciding it".
The calls for one of the two fly-halves to leave does seem slightly unfair on Leinster, as the demand effectively asks the club to give away one of their own academy products to a rival so that Ireland have a better option for a position on the bench that won't be meaningfully called upon unless injury occurs.
Add that to the fact that Sexton will be 34-years-old after the World Cup so the possibility of retirement edges closer, and neither player appears keen to leave the country's dominant province for a side that hasn't won a trophy in over a decade.
Then there's the possibility of any one of the three getting injured, leaving Leinster with no options at fly-half when the other two are called up to play for the national side.
Decisions, decisions for the IRFU, Leinster, and the players. It would have been hard to imagine a time in the past where Leinster's best option for the future of the position would be to stop playing one of the best players in the world, but we might just be living in that world at the minute.
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