Peter Jackson: Tom Prydie return has reminded us of fame’s fickle nature

Tom Prydie came out of the shadows on Friday night after the longest ten months of his turbulent rugby life. As reintroductions go it may not have amounted to much, marooned on the bench for the Dragons at Rodney Parade, in a losing cause against Glasgow Warriors.
But for Prydie,a night as a non-playing substitute served as notice that he will be up and running again in next Saturday's derby at Llanelli.
What mattered most was not the fleeting nature of his return, nor the result but that Prydie was up and running again.
To those who may have forgotten him, a far from rare fate for many exposed to the ephemeral nature of professional sport, his welcome presence after ten months on the casualty list brought a strikingly simple message: “Remember me? I'm back.”
There was a time when everyone knew the name because Tom Prydie had gone from almost total anonymity to international fame overnight. A few weeks past his 18th birthday, on March 20, 2010, against Italy in the Six Nations, he became the youngest Wales cap of all time.
The novice survived and resurfaced for the next game against South Africa, scoring a try for good measure. He kept his place for the most severe Tests of all, against the All Blacks on successive weeks in New Zealand and the most surprising addition to the veritable aviary of capped Ospreys has hardly been sighted since.
His last appearance for Wales, in Osaka more than three years ago, coincided with a first defeat at the hands of Japan, then warming up under Eddie Jones to administer the mother-and-father of giant-killings against the Springboks at the World Cup this time last year.
The Wales management had clearly come round to what some at the Ospreys had feared all along, that Prydie had been pushed too far too soon. England under Jack Rowell had done much the same a generation earlier, adding the then schoolboy Paul Sampson to their international squad.
At that time, Sampson had two other claims to fame. He came from a renowned Rugby League dynasty and in 1996, the year England catapulted him into their squad, had beaten Dwain Chambers into second place in winning the England schools 100m title in 10.48 seconds.
Sampson played three Tests for England in three years and has long since retired. Prydie has played five for Wales in six years and a sixth appeared a long way off even before last season came to a shattering end in early December with a serious knee injury against Munster.
The international picture keeps changing at an ever-increasing rate, like a kaleidoscope on speed. When he made that historic debut, Prydie had no way of knowing that within a matter of months another 18-year-old would be stealing his, and everyone else's thunder – George North.
Since capping Prydie, Wales have picked no fewer than 12 other wings – Will Harries, Aled Brew, Tom James, Morgan Stoddart, Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Harry Robinson, Liam Williams, Dafydd Howells, Hallam Amos, Eli Walker and North.
Harries, a lightweight at 5ft 8in and slightly more than 13st, did not fit the Warren Gatland bill for wings of second row dimension. Brew is on a short-term contract at Bath after a fallow Dragons season without a try.
Halfpenny has made a bigger name for himself at full-back and, of the rest, only North and Liam Williams have set the game on fire. Prydie, at 6ft 4in a formidable physical presence, is at least still playing which is more than can be said of another who won his cap at 18, the luckless Harry Robinson.
Like Stoddart, whose career never recovered from the double leg fracture at Twickenham five years ago, a spinal condition left Robinson no option but to go into even more premature retirement earlier this year at the age of 23.
Prydie, therefore, has as much reason to count his blessings as to curse his luck. “Tom's had some setbacks but he's had some highs,'' Dragons' head coach Kingsley Jones said. “He's got to remember those and use them to drive him back to the top.
“It's a tough job these days, one that can involve a lot emotion. Tom's had a tough couple of years but he's a strong guy, mentally as well as physically.
“He's also very mature for his age which he's had to be considering what he's been through. He's been patient, worked hard and shown a real desperation to bet back onto the field.
“For the first time since I've been at the Dragons, we've got strong competition for places in the back three with players like Hallam Amos, Carl Meyer, Ashton Hewitt, Pat Howard and Adam Hughes. Hallam's out in front so Tom knows what it will take. Let's hope his best is still to come.''
It may sound a strange observation to make of a 24-year-old but the game hurtles on at such a rate that the goal-kicking Prydie has no time to waste.