Life comes at you fast. Particularly if you happen to be a gifted young Irish fly-half.

It is not yet 12 months since a 24-year-old Jack Crowley steered the national team to a 38-17 victory over France in Marseille. But the mood music suggests a newer, shinier thing will be starting the upcoming Six Nations campaign. Following a prodigious rise, Sam Prendergast looks set to wear 10 against England on Feb 1.

The ripple effects of Prendergast’s surge have travelled across the Irish Sea and will even influence the Premiership title race because Bristol Bears, in danger of stalling after injuries to AJ MacGinty and Max Malins, are now at least partially replenished. Harry Byrne, once fast-tracked by Andy Farrell himself and in the Ireland squad as recently as the 2024 Six Nations, has arrived on a loan deal that reeks of good business for all parties.

When MacGinty went down in the 28th minute of the 54-24 thrashing of Leicester Tigers on Dec 21, with the versatile Malins rupturing his Achilles tendon in training days previously, Bristol recruitment lead Gethin Watts received several proposals.

“Sam Worsley was our last man standing as a specialist 10 and he’s had a haematoma in his calf,” explained Pat Lam last week.

“We still had Jimmy Williams and Benhard Janse van Rensburg but we were in trouble there because they are specialist centres. [Gethin] gave me an update and said: ‘There’s a possibility of Harry Byrne.’ I said: ‘Yes, top of the list. One hundred per cent.’

“After that, I spoke to Harry, Gethin spoke to Leinster and the Irish Rugby Football Union and everyone was happy. Most importantly, Harry was happy, so we got the job done.”

Byrne, the younger brother of Ross, had sunk to fourth in the Leinster pecking order behind Prendergast, Ciaran Frawley and his elder sibling. Despite two Ireland caps and 17 appearances for his province during the 2023-2024 campaign, including a Champions Cup start in La Rochelle, he faced a bottleneck.

His Leinster game time this season amounts to 53 minutes across four replacement cameos in the United Rugby Championship. Lam gave him 36 minutes from the bench against Saracens on Saturday evening, thanks in part to convincing conversations and an assured performance during his single proper training session on Thursday.

Bristol have won 13 of the 16 Premiership games that MacGinty has started in; a sequence that stretches back to the beginning of last season. The USA playmaker is among the most valuable individuals in the league, especially after Bristol’s decision to cut costs and run with a reduced playing staff. Tough and intelligent, the 34-year-old is a quarterback within Lam’s innovative tactical template.

Worsley, just 21, is an England age-group international with a promising career ahead of him, but was targeted by Sale Sharks and Saracens. The latter sent Alex Lozowski haring past dummy runners to hound the youngster.

When Lam called for Byrne at the weekend, Bristol had conceded 60 points and scored just seven in their last 124 minutes. They were 22-7 behind at Saracens, having been thrashed 38-0 by Sale Sharks. Such patches can derail seasons. Imitating MacGinty is a significant part of Bryne’s remit, and a credible start has been made.

“He was charged with being AJ MacGinty in training the week we played Leinster,” Lam said of Byrne. “He did all the studying on our lines [of running]… and he said he was carving up Leinster running the Bristol plays!

“When he first spoke, the boys had a double-take; they thought it was AJ! He’s got the Dublin accent, same as AJ. He’s a good guy, very professional and we can all see why he’s been up there. He’s determined to succeed and still wants to play for Ireland.

“There’s something about Dublin and 10s. There are four of them, all between 6ft 2in and 6ft 4in, all Johnny Sexton look-a-likes. And you could see the class just at training.”

Understanding Bristol’s inimitable approach, which hinges on intricate phase shape and is driven by attacking ambition, will govern how successful Byrne is during this stint. Lam expects it to take three or four weeks for the calls to become familiar. The Bears boss has overseen the Barbarians previously and has likened the situation to the famous invitational team. He playfully introduced Byrne at a meeting as “officially our weakest link”, inviting new Bristol colleagues to “get around” the recruit.

That said, Leinster’s ferocious defence at Ashton Gate represented an endorsement of Byrne’s homework. Though his introduction against Saracens opened with an intercepted pass and a couple more scruffy moments, the 25-year-old struck a beautiful touchline conversion and posed enough of a threat for Mark McCall to declare himself nervous in the final stages. One former coach rated Byrne as “the most aggressive 10 in Ireland”, citing his ability to stand flat and whip the ball wide.

An insider explained that David Humphreys, who has replaced David Nucifora as performance director of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), is more open to players heading to England or France on ‘medical joker’ deals if they are not getting regular game-time for Connacht, Leinster, Munster or Ulster. Nucifora was said to pose “far more resistance to them going outside Ireland”.

Byrne’s stasis in the Leinster logjam exemplifies one hitch of an Irish system that is enviable in many aspects. Critics may ask why a Premiership club would share the developmental load. But Bears fans would surely acknowledge that this has enhanced their chances of silverware.

Byrne eyeing permanent stay in Premiership

As for the logistics, payment for the initial three-month contract will be “worked out by Leinster and Bristol”. It will fall under injury dispensation, meaning it is exempt from the salary cap, and the Bears could extend it beyond three months. Byrne, who was so excited about the move that he did not immediately ask about accommodation, is unlikely to remain at Bristol into next season because of the impending arrival of Tom Jordan from Glasgow Warriors.

However, despite signing a two-year extension with Leinster last season, reportedly turning down Connacht to do so, he is likely to leave Ireland when this term finishes and could pop up elsewhere in the Premiership. Leicester Tigers weighed up a loan approach for him in August, plumping for Ben Volavola instead.

Time in what Lam acknowledges as a “shop window” will doubtlessly enrich Byrne’s experience and polish him as a fly-half. Ronan O’Gara has had his say on the matter, highlighting Thomas Ramos’s loan from Toulouse to Colomiers in the French second division as an example of how a burgeoning talent simply needed exposure. England rookies are often launched by a loan to the Championship. Theo Dan went from Ampthill to a World Cup in a year.

Byrne’s situation is somewhat more advanced. He will be steering a senior side in the Champions Cup – Bristol face Benetton on Sunday and have not lost hope of reaching the play-offs, even after losses to Leinster and La Rochelle – and for the home straight of the Premiership schedule. A bonus point at StoneX Stadium, which Byrne helped to rescue, kept the Bears in second.

“We arrived at the run-in in seventh place last season and just missed out,” Lam said. “We’ll arrive in a better place this year.” That is not least because Byrne is on board.