Johnny Sexton says it's the responsibility of the Ireland coaches to ensure that they reach next year's World Cup with a variety of options.
The former World Rugby player of the year was heavily relied on during his playing days, so much so that, aged 38, the out-half played the entire 80 minutes of the team's World Cup quarter-final loss to New Zealand in 2023.
Ahead of Saturday's third-round Six Nations clash with England in Twickenham, the 10 debate is set to take centre stage off the back of mixed performances from Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley in the win over Italy, while Harry Byrne and Ciarán Frawley are also options for Andy Farrell.
"They both trained really well today," Sexton said of Prendergast and Crowley in Blanchardstown in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon.
"It's important that not only those two but Frawley and Harry Byrne, as well, that they keep developing and getting game-time.
"So there are four guys and all the criticism from previous World Cup cycles is that we didn’t develop guys, and we have relied too heavily on one [player] in some positions.
"So we’re doing it a different way now and whether that’s right or wrong, everyone judges it by the outcome but I know that in games to come, they’re going to hit their best form and they’ll be in a good place.
"All four are very good, they’ve all got their different strengths and as coaches I think we are trying to make sure that we have lots of options going to a World Cup, try and learn from previous cycles and make sure that we give them all a certain number of caps.
"We need to make sure that we see their form in different pressurised situations, in different venues against different opposition and yeah, I’m sure it will be like that for the foreseeable.
"We wouldn't say too much [to the players] straight after the game. We let things die down, then review it.
"We review it together very much. Those guys feed back to us as much as we feed back to them.
"Ultimately, we want to know why. Why some things went well, what can we do differently in our prep? As coaches, what do we need to do more of? All those type of things.
"Both of them did some really good things, some work-ons, and some things they need to improve. It'll be like that for the rest of their careers right until the last day. It's always like that.
"Even if I go back to my own experiences, you come off the pitch and you think you've had a great game but you get into a Monday review and the coaches have a few other ideas in terms of how things have gone.
"So, they'll learn from it and keep developing like they have been."
A lot has also been made about an Ireland team in transition as they look to introduce new blood and deal with the retirement of a number of senior players over the last three years.
And Sexton, who won 118 Ireland caps between 2009 and 2023, says that the trip to Twickenham is always among the most difficult assignments, and more so after the hosts' loss to Scotland last weekend.
"Any time you go to Twickenham is a huge challenge, no matter where you are or what stage of a World Cup cycle it is," he said.
"It's always a big challenge.
"I think we'll take some good learnings from the French game [a 36-14 loss].
"It will be important to learn some lessons from that. And make sure we turn up, put our game plan into place, but also have the intent that we need to have when we go to an away venue like this."
Meanwhile, Sexton hit out at social media trolls who "marred" Edwin Edogbo's international debut.
The 23-year-old was born and raised in Cobh in Cork to Nigerian parents, and came on to huge applause as he featured off the bench in the team's Guinness Six Nations victory on Saturday.
There were a number of racist comments posted under the IRFU's post on X celebrating his achievement, and the union said it is investigating and will report to the relevant authorities.
"Look, it's horrible to see that in this day and age, it still exists like that," said the 40-year-old.
Johnny Sexton on Ireland's options at 10 and the social media trolls who 'marred' Edwin Edogbo's international debut pic.twitter.com/yAIOuQHWK2
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 17, 2026
"In terms of how he is, he's good. I don't think he would have paid too much attention to it, and I don't know if he would have even seen most of it.
"He's a pretty humble guy, really level-headed, but it's not right, some of the comments that were made.
"I feel for him, I feel for his family, which marred a pretty special day for him."
Watch England v Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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