IT WAS NO surprise to hear Sam Prendergast say that Johnny Sexton was one of the out-halves he looked up to when he was a teenager dreaming about being a professional himself.
The other number 10s that Kildare man Prendergast admired are an indicator of the joy the 21-year-old takes from attacking rugby.
Danny Cipriani, Quade Cooper, and Damian McKenzie.
“They’re the ones that I just enjoyed watching when I was younger, the way they played,” said Prendergast this week ahead of his first start for Ireland against Fiji this afternoon in Dublin [KO 3.10pm, Virgin/TNT].
“I still watch them a good bit and try to take ideas off them.”
Prendergast’s calling card at this early stage of his career is his ability to delay his passes until the last split second, often dummying once to manipulate defenders or cocking his pass early but not releasing the ball until he has seen an opponent give him a cue as to where the space is.
There was an example on his debut off the Irish bench against Argentina last weekend when Prendergast ‘double-pumped’ to send James Lowe into space with a delayed short pass.
“Sometimes I throw the longer ones but the longer one wasn’t on that time,” said Prendergast of that moment.
“It’s just Lowey had talked, his communication to me was quite clear, he had seen that space and he’d run a great line and the defence was just coming to me.
“I like that little bit of interplay. That’s what excites me a lot about rugby, those phase-play intricacies, like sometimes it’s a long pass, sometimes it’s a short pass.
“Every different situation has a different solution which is quite exciting.”
Prendergast also enjoys the art of kicking. He is a proponent of the old-school spiral, sometimes finding great distance with that technique. Chips and grubbers are also part of his repertoire.
Ask Ireland and Leinster team-mates about Prendergast and they often mention that some of the things he does in training are jaw-dropping.
What exactly has he been up to on the training ground?
“I don’t really know,” says Newbridge College alumnus Prendergast. “It’s just maybe the odd kick, I don’t know, a few spirals. I’m not really sure what they mean by that.
“I maybe try a few things. Some days it doesn’t really go to plan. A wet and windy day and nothing comes off, you walk off the pitch a bit dejected and other days, a lot of it comes off. That’s part of the learning as well.
“Then when you get to play games it’s fun because you get to… not experiment but you get to see how different things from the training pitch can translate into in matches.”
Prendergast says there have never been cases of rugby coaches trying to coach his instincts out of him.
“No, never in rugby anyway. Maybe in my younger years, I would have been more into GAA and soccer and there would have been a few things like instead of bending your back to pick the ball up in GAA, I just tried to flick it up.
“Stuff like that would be tried to be coached out of you but I just kind of enjoyed it. No, never in rugby. I think a lot of the coaches and good influences I’ve had just wanted me to add other things to my game to complement it as well.”
There is lots of expectation around Prendergast despite his inexperience. He’s a young man who has only played 20 games for Leinster, just eight of them starts and none of those eight in the Champions Cup.
He shone for the Ireland U20s in 2023, helping them to a Grand Slam and the World Cup final, drawing praise from people like ex-All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams along the way.
He tries not to look at the media too much – “no offence” – and Prendergast seems unperturbed by the hype that his talent has drawn.
“I’d say I put more pressure on myself than the media or what my team-mates do. I just want to keep getting better.”
One thing Prendergast is aware of and doesn’t appreciate is the discussion around his physique.
He’s 6ft 4ins and listed at 91kg by Leinster. There have been plenty of suggestions that he could do with bulking up, but Prendergast doesn’t agree.
“I think that’s a bit harsh, I’m just quite tall,” he said.
“I could definitely put on a bit of size but I’m not in a huge rush to do that. I think I’m decently heavy for the position I play.”
What he is more interested in is improving his defensive work, learning from the likes of Jack Crowley, Sexton, and his head coach’s son.
“I’m definitely trying to get better at my defence.
“I’ve been working with coaches in Leinster and Ireland on it. I think Jack has defended very well over the first couple of games, Johnny was a great defender, people who I look up to like Owen Farrell, great defender.
“It’s obviously a huge part of the game. You spend half the game without the ball. You’ve got to be very good at it. I’m really trying to get better at it.”
Fiji will look to test his defence this afternoon in Dublin as Prendergast makes his first Test start just over a week after winning his first cap for Ireland in the closing quarter against the Pumas.
His older brother, Connacht captain Cian, presented him with his jersey for the Argentina game, with the rest of their family there at the Shelbourne Hotel too. A few of them were in tears on an emotional occasion.
And it will be even more special today with Sam and Cian in the same matchday 23 for Ireland. They have already played against each other for their provinces but this will be their first time on the same side.
The Prendergast brothers come from good stock. Their parents, Mark and Ciara, were in the army and that work meant overseas assignments. Sam was five, Cian was eight, and their sister Lara was two when the family moved to Syria for 18 months.
There in Damascus, Sam became friends with Diarmuid Mangan, later his team-mate for the Ireland U20s and now part of the Leinster academy.
Prendergast’s parents now run a leadership development business, so it’s no surprise that Sam and Cian are seen as mature beyond their years in a rugby context.
Prendergast feels he’s benefitting from working with Sexton, who has returned to the Ireland set-up to work on their kicking and mentor the out-halves.
“He’s been good for a lot of kicking and stuff like that,” says Prendergast.
“He’s one of the best players to ever play for Ireland so, like, his mindset, his outlook on attack is very good. It’s been a lot of kicking stuff, which I’ve found very helpful anyway.
“He’s quite supportive, he’s quite positive. I worked with his brother [Mark, now the Connacht attack coach] in the 20s and he’s actually quite similar as well. They’re quite supportive and quite encouraging. I just think that confidence rubs off on you a bit.”
And yet, you get the impression that Prendergast is very much his own man.
He clearly has confidence in his own ability. He had the chance to go to Connacht on loan this season but turned down the offer of lots of game time and backed himself to get starts for Leinster despite the competition at out-half.
Having been with Ireland as a development player ahead of this year’s Six Nations, then travelled to South Africa as part of the main squad in July, he feels comfortable in this set-up.
Now he gets a chance to show he can guide this Ireland team from the number 10 shirt.
Any sympathy for Darcy disappeared when i saw a pic of his missus during the 6 nations.. jammy git and he can grow a non patchy beard.
As a NIQ for me Kirchner has not lived up to expectations. He will be most likely gone till after the WC too so I must confess to being disappointed with the news today . Well done to the Clontarf boys for breaking through !!!
Kirchner hasn’t been played at full back (bar pro12 games in a second string teams during internationals) because of the seemingly unstoppable Rob Kearney, who is way overhyped in terms of being an elite full back. Apart from catching the ball he’s not top level. People seem to forget just before Kirchner joined Leinster he played full back for SA v NZ in what was Prob the best game ever in terms of skill and intensity. Leinster need to get real re Kearney and put their best full back in that position.
*undroppable Rob Kearney!
Kearney is not overrated and even if he was Kirchner should be playing better , it’s not as if O Connor is playing players to suit Schmidt ( Madigan instead of Gopperth for example) .
If you compare to Contempomi or Nacewa he has not filled the bill , what is the point in having a guy like this who is not first on your teamsheet ? Nacewa and Contempomi both lined out out of position at times , Kirchner should be able to do so and if not , he should not be kept on . There’s huge talent in the squad and a big wage player is wasting space if he’s not first pick . To be honest I would have kept Gopperth ahead of him .
Boss and Reddan are in the way of any talent coming through and both should have been replaced not extended.
They have been fantastic for us but are 35 and neither is getting any better.
Replaced with who? Getting a half decent scrum half in a WC year is extremely difficult.
Stringer
Stringer is 37. Reddan and Boss are current Internationals. Maybe with the World Cup, Luke McGrath will get some much needed game time. He hasn’t kicked on but he undoubtedly has the talent.
Ian how can he kick on when he’s blocked by the two old men. ( neither of them are having a good season)
Just like Jimmy at 10 our coach can’t see the talent staring him straight in the face.
Murray, any chance you put up the length of contracts if you can? Cheers.
As a policy Leinster don’t release the length of contracts signed.
Are all of these 1 year contracts?
What about James Hart playing for Grenoble. Never seen him play but reports say he seems to be playing well over there.
Are Mike McCarthy and Aaron Dundon out of contract this year ? I mean do they need to be renewed
Yup both out of contract at the end of the season and presumably, with this announcement, they’ll be leaving.
Oops getting confused with my McCarthy’s. Mike still has a year to run on his, I was thinking of Sean who is out of contract.
Alright cheers, I was thinking cos McCarthy is startin all our Heineken cup games for the last two years :L
We’ll miss Dundon next season with Cronin ,and most likely Strauss, away for big chunks of the season. I think hes a real reliable player and its a shame hes struggled this year with injury.
Considering some of the overseas rubbish signed D’ARCY would be a handy bit of business, what a waste letting Peter Stringer get away.
That MOC is a stubborn b*****d. Apparently Isa is only back for a one year strictly as a player, not a player coach role. We need a backs coach in leinster!