LEINSTER ATTACK COACH Tyler Bleyendaal has backed out-half Sam Prendergast to continue driving the team from the number 10 shirt and bounce back from a frustrating goal-kicking display in the URC semi-final.

22-year-old Prendergast has established himself as Leinster’s first-choice out-half this season, starting all of their knock-out games, and is expected to continue in that role for this weekend’s URC final against the Bulls in Croke Park.

Prendergast missed a few tackles in the semi-final win over Glasgow and was also inaccurate off the tee with five missed shots at goal.

The Kildare man contributed some strong kicking from hand, as well as guiding Leinster towards a six-try haul in their 37-19 victory.

Those are the kind of qualities that Bleyendaal focused on as he backed Prendergast.

“I actually thought Sam on the weekend played a good match,” said Bleyendaal ahead of the URC decider against the Bulls.

“His goal-kicking maybe was one skill error, but the way he led the team around, I thought, was great. The stats showed that we played well and we applied a lot of pressure and I think a lot of that is from Sam’s leadership on the field.

“He is probably one of his harshest critics, it’s getting him back into the plan for this week, take the learnings. He has been engaged and he’s looking to get a plan in place along with the other game drivers.

“I’m enjoying Sam and how he operates and I’m sure he’s still learning, but he’s a competitor.”

Prendergast at Leinster training yesterday. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Prendergast has played 23 times for Leinster and Ireland this season, with only six of those appearances coming in the URC regular season. The majority of his games have come on higher-profile, higher-stakes occasions.

That has led to fears in some quarters that Prendergast has been pushed into prominent positions with Ireland and Leinster too soon, but Bleyendaal doesn’t agree.

“I don’t think there’s any ill effects, I think he’s getting through the season fine,” said Bleyendaal.

“I don’t look at him and think he’s getting beaten up or he’s slowing down. I feel like he turns up every week, he’s got good energy and he’s young, I think he recovers well.

“The pleasing thing to see is that he puts in the work during the week and he goes out and backs himself on the weekend.” 

35-year-old Bleyendaal is a former out-half who captained the New Zealand U20s before breaking into the Canterbury and Crusaders set-up as a youngster, so he understands some of the pressures Prendergast is now facing.

He also appreciates how goal-kicking accuracy can sometimes desert the players tasked with that job.

“Jeez, being a kicker myself and sometimes you have a bad day,” said Bleyendaal.

“Sometimes you have a rubbish warm-up, a great game. Sometimes you have a great warm-up, a rubbish game. But he was back to work today kicking a lot of balls. As far as I’m aware, he wasn’t kicking yesterday, but you never know, he might have been at home nudging a few.

Prendergast had a frustrating day off the tee. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

“Like I said, he puts in the work, prepares well. He’s his harshest critic, but he’s got a great work-rate. This week is another week. He’s enjoying engaging with the planning of the week and putting in his own skill development as well.”

Prendergast has taken over from the experienced Ross Byrne as Leinster’s first-choice number 10 this season, with the latter set for a move to English club Gloucester this summer.

Byrne is one of a number of players that Leinster hope to send off with a winner’s medal this weekend.

“There’s Ross, there’s Church [Cian Healy], there’s a lot of people in there who have played their last game, are playing their last game and are moving on, management as well,” said Bleyendaal.

“There’s a lot of people at this club who have been here longer than I have who have experienced lows and a lot of success, this is our opportunity to try and perform well, get another trophy and send them off well.”