ANDY FARRELL TENDS to cut a cool and relaxed figure during his media duties but the Ireland head coach bristled when asked about Sam Prendergast’s defensive work today.
Farrell has selected Prendergast to start at out-half for Saturday’s meeting with the Springboks, and was about the selection during his team announcement press conference at the Aviva Stadium.
Prendergast was also the starting 10 for last weekend’s 46-19 defeat of the Wallabies, after coming off the bench in the games against New Zealand and Japan, where Jack Crowley wore the 10 jersey.
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The Leinster player had a strong game against Australia, with his passing and kicking skills to the fore, but had some difficult moments in defence. While Prendergast forced a turnover with one big hit on James O’Connor in the opening stages, he also slipped off a couple of tackles.
Farrell was asked if he had wanted to see “more” from Prendergast in terms of his physicality and defence.
“I understand the question, and it’s a question that obviously keeps popping up now, but I think Sam’s ability as a fly-half far outweighs a work-on within his game,” Farrell said.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“I thought he was tremendous last week. His skill set has been fantastic for all to see, and I think everyone needs to look through a little bit of a work-on, because everyone’s got work-ons and will continue to have work-ons throughout, and that’s up to us as coaches and the rest of the players to keep on working on them.”
Farrell was then asked if he has spoken directly to Prendergast around his technique and body position in terms of his tackling.
“I understand your question again, but they’re loaded questions, you know what I mean? Because then it’s obvious that we have to talk about that. Your question could be asked about any single player throughout (the squad)…
“Of course, we constantly talk to individuals about all aspects of the play. So to think that we’re just focusing on one aspect of one player is not right. Because, for example, I spoke to our two leaders yesterday about certain aspects of their game. I’m talking about Caelan (Doris) and Dan Sheehan now, world-class players, and they agree with the work-ons. You know what I mean? So it is constant throughout for every single member of every single squad in world rugby.”
Farrell sees this weekend’s game against the back-to-back world champions as an ideal test to see where his own team currently stand after what has so far been a mixed November series.
I’m finding out about people and seeing where we’re at, and I suppose this will give us a lot more of an idea, to see where we’re at.
“We’ve been talking a lot about resilience within our game over the 18 months, and there’s been some learnings from that along the way, and that was pretty good last week. I suppose that’ll get tested to the fore this weekend.
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“So I don’t think we’re just learning about individuals. We’re learning about our game and how we’re going to progress with that over the next couple of years.”
Farrell also confirmed that Robbie Henshaw missed out as he was nursing a hamstring issue earlier in the week, with Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose backed at the starting centre partnership, and Munster’s Tom Farrell named on the bench. Stuart McCloskey had been ruled out of the game with a groin problem.
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Farrell: 'Sam's ability as a fly-half far outweighs a work-on within his game'
ANDY FARRELL TENDS to cut a cool and relaxed figure during his media duties but the Ireland head coach bristled when asked about Sam Prendergast’s defensive work today.
Farrell has selected Prendergast to start at out-half for Saturday’s meeting with the Springboks, and was about the selection during his team announcement press conference at the Aviva Stadium.
Prendergast was also the starting 10 for last weekend’s 46-19 defeat of the Wallabies, after coming off the bench in the games against New Zealand and Japan, where Jack Crowley wore the 10 jersey.
The Leinster player had a strong game against Australia, with his passing and kicking skills to the fore, but had some difficult moments in defence. While Prendergast forced a turnover with one big hit on James O’Connor in the opening stages, he also slipped off a couple of tackles.
Farrell was asked if he had wanted to see “more” from Prendergast in terms of his physicality and defence.
“I understand the question, and it’s a question that obviously keeps popping up now, but I think Sam’s ability as a fly-half far outweighs a work-on within his game,” Farrell said.
“I thought he was tremendous last week. His skill set has been fantastic for all to see, and I think everyone needs to look through a little bit of a work-on, because everyone’s got work-ons and will continue to have work-ons throughout, and that’s up to us as coaches and the rest of the players to keep on working on them.”
Farrell was then asked if he has spoken directly to Prendergast around his technique and body position in terms of his tackling.
“I understand your question again, but they’re loaded questions, you know what I mean? Because then it’s obvious that we have to talk about that. Your question could be asked about any single player throughout (the squad)…
“Of course, we constantly talk to individuals about all aspects of the play. So to think that we’re just focusing on one aspect of one player is not right. Because, for example, I spoke to our two leaders yesterday about certain aspects of their game. I’m talking about Caelan (Doris) and Dan Sheehan now, world-class players, and they agree with the work-ons. You know what I mean? So it is constant throughout for every single member of every single squad in world rugby.”
Farrell sees this weekend’s game against the back-to-back world champions as an ideal test to see where his own team currently stand after what has so far been a mixed November series.
“We’ve been talking a lot about resilience within our game over the 18 months, and there’s been some learnings from that along the way, and that was pretty good last week. I suppose that’ll get tested to the fore this weekend.
“So I don’t think we’re just learning about individuals. We’re learning about our game and how we’re going to progress with that over the next couple of years.”
Farrell also confirmed that Robbie Henshaw missed out as he was nursing a hamstring issue earlier in the week, with Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose backed at the starting centre partnership, and Munster’s Tom Farrell named on the bench. Stuart McCloskey had been ruled out of the game with a groin problem.
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andy farrell defensive Ireland Rugby Sam Prendergast