ONE OF THE frustrations for Sam Prendergast in the first half in Sydney last weekend was a missed conversion after Josh van der Flier’s try.
From the left-hand 15-metre line, Prendergast pulled his attempt left and wide.
23-year-old Prendergast has been in strong place-kicking form in recent months.
He changed his kicking tee in April, switching from a pronged tee where the ball sits upright to a telescopic tee that allows for a more vertical placement and involves kicking through the end of the ball.
The results have been positive, with Prendergast kicking at an 85% success rate in the seven Leinster games since changing his tee. This has been a marked improvement on his 71% rate coming into this year’s Six Nations.
So the miss above didn’t sit well with him. And that made his 78th-minute effort against the Wallabies all the more interesting.
The kick was from exactly the same place, with Prendergast having the chance to add the extras to Thomas Clarkson’s try and put Ireland into a 33-31 lead.
This time, he nailed his chance.
Wallabies wing Max Jorgensen made a pacy attempt at blocking the kick, getting close, but Prendergast’s effort sailed through the posts.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell praised the out-half’s composure afterwards, citing Prendergast’s conversion as an example of Ireland’s character in Sydney.
So what was going through the Kildare man’s head as he stood over the kick?
“Just hit the ball through the right-hand side, the right-hand side of the ball, just make sure not to miss it left,” he said.
“I was pretty calm, to be honest. There was still a bit of time left.
“Probably played well in the second half, so yeah, I was just trying to keep the kick.
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“You have little things you’re trying to make sure you do, and then once you take care of them, that’s all you can really do.”
When the conversion was on target. Prendergast punched the air in delight.
Ireland’s fans responded to their team taking the lead by roaring out The Fields of Athenry, although that was silenced when Ben Donaldson had his last-gasp chance to win it for the Wallabies off the tee with the final act of the game.
But he missed, so Prendergast and his team-mates could celebrate a memorable win.
“It was brilliant. I’ve never been to Australia before but I love it,” said Prendergast.
“The last few weeks, I’ve seen the amount of Irish people here. I bumped into someone who’s from my hometown, and they were chatting with my parents. The amount of people who are over here, you obviously see that.
“Even Zombie was playing at the end. It’s class. It’s pretty cool to see how many people are over here and how much of a good time they’re having.
Prendergast with Garry Ringrose and Jimmy O'Brien after the game. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“There’s an unbelievable amount of Irish over here. The lads described it as a bit like the last World Cup nearly three or four years ago [in France], where they were just so many Irish there.”
Prendergast’s parents were at Allianz Stadium to watch him and his older brother, Cian, start a rugby game together for just the second time. Both of those games have been in the green of Ireland, but the first one wasn’t very happy as Farrell’s men lost to France in Paris in this year’s Six Nations.
So this one was all the more special.
“I suppose my parents are just mental,” said Sam. “They don’t miss even a game. They hadn’t said they were going to come over, but when the squad got announced and we were both going on the summer tour, they decided to go.
“I wouldn’t say the novelty has worn off at all. It still feels pretty cool because we obviously don’t play together in the province, as in we haven’t played together a whole pile, and we’d never played together before we played for Ireland.
“It still feels pretty cool, and it still takes a little bit of getting used to as well, as in you have your brother beside you. There’s little moments that are pretty cool.”
Farrell was happy with how his out-half went against the Wallabies.
There were some of Prendergast’s trademark skill moments, particularly a classy spiral kick out of his own 22 under pressure and the clever delayed pass for Nick Timoney’s second-half linebreak.
Prendergast was on target with four of his five conversions, a key difference as the Wallabies missed two conversions and two penalties, while his line kicking on penalties was outstanding.
It is a crucial skill, and the Irish out-half bravely eked out every metre to get his forwards close to the tryline.
He put his body in front of some big Wallabies ball-carriers in defence, but the big frustration was getting intercepted by Jorgensen for Ryan Lonergan’s try.
“It was patchy,” said Prendergast of his performance.
“We were poor in the first half, as in I felt like we were good at times and I feel like that was my performance as well. I was good at times, bad at times, a bad intercept, a couple of missed tackles.
Cian and Sam Prendergast during the anthem. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“I suppose I’m just pleased that we were able to stick it out as a team, and individually that I was able to just keep going and then able to come away with a win.”
This has been a topsy-turvy season for Prendergast, who was in possession of Ireland’s number 10 shirt for the first two games of the Six Nations before being dropped as Jack Crowley came in.
Prendergast also missed out on Leinster’s match-day 23 for all but one of their Champions Cup knock-out games, yet he returned at out-half for their URC success.
“It had been such an up-and-down season,” he said.
“You look back, it was still this season when we played against Australia [in November] and had a good win, and it felt like it was just a season of getting up and running and then just not playing as well as I’d like.
“It was a good run of big games in the URC, so that was a nice bank and I just kept on rolling.”
With Japan ahead in the second round of the Nations Championship, Prendergast is hoping to keep hold of the number 10 jersey.
He wants lots more experiences like last Saturday.
And it’s nice that he’s one of a few Kildare men representing the county.
“Me, Cian, Jimmy [O'Brien], Tadhg [Beirne], Jeremy Loughman, Jamie Osborne. Six, I think,” he said.
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'I was pretty calm' - Prendergast on his game-clinching conversion
ONE OF THE frustrations for Sam Prendergast in the first half in Sydney last weekend was a missed conversion after Josh van der Flier’s try.
From the left-hand 15-metre line, Prendergast pulled his attempt left and wide.
23-year-old Prendergast has been in strong place-kicking form in recent months.
He changed his kicking tee in April, switching from a pronged tee where the ball sits upright to a telescopic tee that allows for a more vertical placement and involves kicking through the end of the ball.
The results have been positive, with Prendergast kicking at an 85% success rate in the seven Leinster games since changing his tee. This has been a marked improvement on his 71% rate coming into this year’s Six Nations.
So the miss above didn’t sit well with him. And that made his 78th-minute effort against the Wallabies all the more interesting.
The kick was from exactly the same place, with Prendergast having the chance to add the extras to Thomas Clarkson’s try and put Ireland into a 33-31 lead.
This time, he nailed his chance.
Wallabies wing Max Jorgensen made a pacy attempt at blocking the kick, getting close, but Prendergast’s effort sailed through the posts.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell praised the out-half’s composure afterwards, citing Prendergast’s conversion as an example of Ireland’s character in Sydney.
So what was going through the Kildare man’s head as he stood over the kick?
“Just hit the ball through the right-hand side, the right-hand side of the ball, just make sure not to miss it left,” he said.
“I was pretty calm, to be honest. There was still a bit of time left.
“Probably played well in the second half, so yeah, I was just trying to keep the kick.
“You have little things you’re trying to make sure you do, and then once you take care of them, that’s all you can really do.”
When the conversion was on target. Prendergast punched the air in delight.
Ireland’s fans responded to their team taking the lead by roaring out The Fields of Athenry, although that was silenced when Ben Donaldson had his last-gasp chance to win it for the Wallabies off the tee with the final act of the game.
But he missed, so Prendergast and his team-mates could celebrate a memorable win.
“It was brilliant. I’ve never been to Australia before but I love it,” said Prendergast.
“The last few weeks, I’ve seen the amount of Irish people here. I bumped into someone who’s from my hometown, and they were chatting with my parents. The amount of people who are over here, you obviously see that.
“Even Zombie was playing at the end. It’s class. It’s pretty cool to see how many people are over here and how much of a good time they’re having.
“There’s an unbelievable amount of Irish over here. The lads described it as a bit like the last World Cup nearly three or four years ago [in France], where they were just so many Irish there.”
Prendergast’s parents were at Allianz Stadium to watch him and his older brother, Cian, start a rugby game together for just the second time. Both of those games have been in the green of Ireland, but the first one wasn’t very happy as Farrell’s men lost to France in Paris in this year’s Six Nations.
So this one was all the more special.
“I suppose my parents are just mental,” said Sam. “They don’t miss even a game. They hadn’t said they were going to come over, but when the squad got announced and we were both going on the summer tour, they decided to go.
“I wouldn’t say the novelty has worn off at all. It still feels pretty cool because we obviously don’t play together in the province, as in we haven’t played together a whole pile, and we’d never played together before we played for Ireland.
“It still feels pretty cool, and it still takes a little bit of getting used to as well, as in you have your brother beside you. There’s little moments that are pretty cool.”
Farrell was happy with how his out-half went against the Wallabies.
There were some of Prendergast’s trademark skill moments, particularly a classy spiral kick out of his own 22 under pressure and the clever delayed pass for Nick Timoney’s second-half linebreak.
Prendergast was on target with four of his five conversions, a key difference as the Wallabies missed two conversions and two penalties, while his line kicking on penalties was outstanding.
It is a crucial skill, and the Irish out-half bravely eked out every metre to get his forwards close to the tryline.
He put his body in front of some big Wallabies ball-carriers in defence, but the big frustration was getting intercepted by Jorgensen for Ryan Lonergan’s try.
“It was patchy,” said Prendergast of his performance.
“We were poor in the first half, as in I felt like we were good at times and I feel like that was my performance as well. I was good at times, bad at times, a bad intercept, a couple of missed tackles.
“I suppose I’m just pleased that we were able to stick it out as a team, and individually that I was able to just keep going and then able to come away with a win.”
This has been a topsy-turvy season for Prendergast, who was in possession of Ireland’s number 10 shirt for the first two games of the Six Nations before being dropped as Jack Crowley came in.
Prendergast also missed out on Leinster’s match-day 23 for all but one of their Champions Cup knock-out games, yet he returned at out-half for their URC success.
“It had been such an up-and-down season,” he said.
“You look back, it was still this season when we played against Australia [in November] and had a good win, and it felt like it was just a season of getting up and running and then just not playing as well as I’d like.
“It was a good run of big games in the URC, so that was a nice bank and I just kept on rolling.”
With Japan ahead in the second round of the Nations Championship, Prendergast is hoping to keep hold of the number 10 jersey.
He wants lots more experiences like last Saturday.
And it’s nice that he’s one of a few Kildare men representing the county.
“Me, Cian, Jimmy [O'Brien], Tadhg [Beirne], Jeremy Loughman, Jamie Osborne. Six, I think,” he said.
“It’s brilliant. A Kildare takeover.”
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conversion Ireland Nations Championship Number 10 stones