LEO CULLEN PRAISED Sam Prendergast’s moment of magic after a second-half surge pushed Leinster to an impressive 48-23 win in their Champions Cup opener at Clermont Auvergne.
The French side led by a point at half-time, but the province turned on the style to pull clear in the second-half – with Prendergast’s brilliant break and kick leading to the first try after the restart, and proving the turning point for Cullen’s men.
Started and finished by Sam Prendergast 🔥
@leinsterrugby go from back to front to take the lead 🔵
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“It’s a cool stadium, we didn’t quite silence the crowd I’d say, because Clermont were very much in it for the first 40 minutes and then at the start of the second half, it was a massive moment from Sam,” said Cullen.
“We were screaming up in the coach’s box because obviously on the turnover, he was on to go and not everyone was thinking it’s on to go, but Sam at least was thinking it’s on to go and you’ve got to capitalise, where’s the best space, and he puts in a great kick. Jimmy does well, gets the ball back to him and he’s scoring under the posts himself, so it’s a massive moment in the game.”
The out-half was Player of the Match at the Stade Marcel-Michelin. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Prendergast also made good use of his running game in last weekend’s URC defeat of Cardiff, with the out-half making a strong start to the season.
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“He’s always pushing himself to get better, that continuous improvement part. I’ve said over the last number of years, for any young player, we’re not going to have the finished product coming through as 21-year-olds and, and he’s experienced an unbelievable amount even for still a relatively very young player, 23.
“And Fintan (Gunne), it was a big game for him, starting in the Champions Cup, lots of really good bits, his offload for Tadhg’s (Furlong) try is great, but everyone’s going to have parts to improve on.
“But yeah, very positive for those two guys. They would have played against (Baptise) Jauneau when they were underage. Oli Coffey coming on, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, again it would have been playing that same age group as Fintan and Sam, they’re making their European debuts today.
“So it’s good, some of those young guys have pushed on and they’re making serious claims to be there on a more regular basis, which is what you want.”
Leinster scored 15 points in a tight, often scrappy first-half, but put 33 points on Clermont in a powerful second-half display.
“It’s trying to stick at it, I think is the thing. There’s lots of good stuff in the first half. We talked before the game, obviously Clermont losing here last week, we thought there’d be quite a lot of emotion in their performance.
“I think you could even see some of their players, the focus that they had before the game. They were very physical in the contact area.
“We had some chances, didn’t quite take them. Didn’t exit well during the game, which gave Clermont some field positions. It was just trying to tidy up a little bit of that.
“We actually kicked-off, Clermont made a break, start of the second half. Then on the transition, Sam makes that break. It was the kick through, but he scores a try, which is a big moment in the game. Whereas if they’d scored, it would have been eight points, the crowd are in the game. It was a really important passage of play there for us.
Jack Conan left the game with a shoulder injury. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“At half-time, specifically, we were just sticking to the plan, what’s working well. I thought the lineout defence was very good during the course of the game, which denied Clermont’s proper set-piece launch from lineout.
“Scrum as well. I thought we had some good early dominance in the game. Then we get the rewards, which is the penalty try.
“To be fair to players, I think they had a very strong mindset, with the five-metre penalties. Even though the one in the first half didn’t pay off, it paid off in the second half.
“We were just trying to get that balance during the course of the game. That was some of the conversation we had at half-time.”
A hard-earned win on the road came with plenty of positives, but there was concern for Jack Conan, who left the field with an injured shoulder after going over for a second-half try.
Cullen confirmed the injury “didn’t look great”, and that he expected the back row will “be out for a little bit with that.”
The Leinster head coach added that scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park came through his training week ‘OK’, and could feature in next Saturday’s URC meeting with Munster at Aviva Stadium.
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Prendergast's 'massive moment' lifts Leinster, but Conan's shoulder injury a concern
LEO CULLEN PRAISED Sam Prendergast’s moment of magic after a second-half surge pushed Leinster to an impressive 48-23 win in their Champions Cup opener at Clermont Auvergne.
The French side led by a point at half-time, but the province turned on the style to pull clear in the second-half – with Prendergast’s brilliant break and kick leading to the first try after the restart, and proving the turning point for Cullen’s men.
“It’s a cool stadium, we didn’t quite silence the crowd I’d say, because Clermont were very much in it for the first 40 minutes and then at the start of the second half, it was a massive moment from Sam,” said Cullen.
“We were screaming up in the coach’s box because obviously on the turnover, he was on to go and not everyone was thinking it’s on to go, but Sam at least was thinking it’s on to go and you’ve got to capitalise, where’s the best space, and he puts in a great kick. Jimmy does well, gets the ball back to him and he’s scoring under the posts himself, so it’s a massive moment in the game.”
Prendergast also made good use of his running game in last weekend’s URC defeat of Cardiff, with the out-half making a strong start to the season.
“He’s always pushing himself to get better, that continuous improvement part. I’ve said over the last number of years, for any young player, we’re not going to have the finished product coming through as 21-year-olds and, and he’s experienced an unbelievable amount even for still a relatively very young player, 23.
“And Fintan (Gunne), it was a big game for him, starting in the Champions Cup, lots of really good bits, his offload for Tadhg’s (Furlong) try is great, but everyone’s going to have parts to improve on.
“But yeah, very positive for those two guys. They would have played against (Baptise) Jauneau when they were underage. Oli Coffey coming on, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, again it would have been playing that same age group as Fintan and Sam, they’re making their European debuts today.
Leinster scored 15 points in a tight, often scrappy first-half, but put 33 points on Clermont in a powerful second-half display.
“It’s trying to stick at it, I think is the thing. There’s lots of good stuff in the first half. We talked before the game, obviously Clermont losing here last week, we thought there’d be quite a lot of emotion in their performance.
“I think you could even see some of their players, the focus that they had before the game. They were very physical in the contact area.
“We had some chances, didn’t quite take them. Didn’t exit well during the game, which gave Clermont some field positions. It was just trying to tidy up a little bit of that.
“We actually kicked-off, Clermont made a break, start of the second half. Then on the transition, Sam makes that break. It was the kick through, but he scores a try, which is a big moment in the game. Whereas if they’d scored, it would have been eight points, the crowd are in the game. It was a really important passage of play there for us.
“At half-time, specifically, we were just sticking to the plan, what’s working well. I thought the lineout defence was very good during the course of the game, which denied Clermont’s proper set-piece launch from lineout.
“Scrum as well. I thought we had some good early dominance in the game. Then we get the rewards, which is the penalty try.
“To be fair to players, I think they had a very strong mindset, with the five-metre penalties. Even though the one in the first half didn’t pay off, it paid off in the second half.
“We were just trying to get that balance during the course of the game. That was some of the conversation we had at half-time.”
A hard-earned win on the road came with plenty of positives, but there was concern for Jack Conan, who left the field with an injured shoulder after going over for a second-half try.
Cullen confirmed the injury “didn’t look great”, and that he expected the back row will “be out for a little bit with that.”
The Leinster head coach added that scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park came through his training week ‘OK’, and could feature in next Saturday’s URC meeting with Munster at Aviva Stadium.
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Champions Cup Jack Conan Leinster Leo Cullen Reaction Rugby Sam Prendergast