PERHAPS THE MOST pleasing part of Sam Prendergast’s performance for Leinster against Cardiff was his very first defensive involvement.
As the Welsh side tried to run the ball out of their 22 from Prendergast’s kick-off, the Leinster out-half closed up from the backfield, landed a firm tackle on Mason Grady to force the ball loose, and then swarmed onto Harri Millard to initiate a choke tackle along with Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan.
That first-minute turnover set a strong defensive tone for Prendergast, who completed seven tackles across the course of the 80 minutes, missing two tackles along the way.
“Maybe I’ve been criticised in the past about it, but it’s more just I’m trying to evolve that part of my game,” said Prendergast of his defence after Leinster’s 29-5 win over Cardiff on Saturday in Dublin.
“There were still missed tackles out there tonight, so I’ll still keep working on it. It’s 50% of the game, so I need to keep working on it.”
23-year-old Prendergast appeared to be in confident, relaxed form on Saturday night. He was player of the match a week on from his impressive impact off the bench for Leinster against the Sharks.
Prendergast reckons that he has bulked up “a small bit” during the off-season, which might help with his contact work.
There was a little frustration for Prendergast off the tee as he missed his first three conversion attempts, albeit with the first two of them very difficult kicks from close to the left touchline.
Prendergast, whose place-kicking accuracy improved notably upon changing his tee during last season, did go on to successfully kick two conversions for Leinster.
“A couple of bad misses in that corner, it’s a windy old ground,” said Prendergast of the RDS.
“It’s tough to come to terms with, but it was nice to actually get one from that corner [after Leinster's fourth try]. But yeah, it was a little bit frustrating. We should have been probably 21-0 up, and we were only 15-0 up, and then they get a try, and it just feels a bit… it doesn’t feel as good as it should. So, a good bit of work to do during the week.”
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Prendergast kicks at goal for Leinster. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Undoubtedly, the standout part of Prendergast’s game for Leinster as he made his first start of the season was his running game.
He made three linebreaks and beat four defenders as he repeatedly identified space to attack, and showed his turn of pace to take it.
Again, this is something that Prendergast has identified as an area to improve. He has always excelled as a distributor, but wants to keep developing his ability to mix things up.
“It’s probably something that I’m trying to work on personally, being a bit more of a run threat,” he said. “So yeah, it was nice.
“There’s still a few opportunities where I probably ran when I should have passed, and I probably could have done better when I was running. There’s probably a lot of improvement on it but yeah it was promising.
“I think it [the space for his breaks] just opened up. A lot of that normally happens when there’s a lot of good work done on the inside, whether it’s the centres ball playing at the line, they sit people down and it creates space for me, or it’s the forwards doing the same.
“So yeah, it’s often just off a really good platform that you get the space.”
Prendergast threw a couple of nice offloads for Leinster on Saturday, while his pass behind a defender to find Jamie Osborne for his side’s fifth try showed the vision he brings to the party.
The Kildare man has always been an instinctive, creative player. He has previously cited Quade Cooper and Danny Cipriani as out-halves he admired when he was growing up.
So it was interesting to hear Leinster assistant coach Emmet Farrell recently praising Prendergast for “still trying to be himself” despite all the scrutiny and criticism he has attracted over the last couple of seasons.
“It hasn’t shook him, his attitude to the game hasn’t changed. He hasn’t tried to become more compliant,” is how Farrell put it.
And Prendergast said it has been important to him that he maintains his sense of freedom despite the pressures involved at the top level.
Prendergast was excellent on the ball for Leinster. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“Everyone wants to keep being themselves and just keep getting better,” said Prendergast. “It can be harder with setbacks, and you probably try to change a little bit.
“I suppose that is important, and I think everyone within the group tries to do that, and everyone in the group tries to motivate each other in trying to do that, especially when young lads come in. And lads would have always said that to me. I do try to do that.”
Prendergast would like to think that last season has made him stronger.
“Up and down” is one way he describes a season that involved him being dropped from Ireland and Leinster’s matchday 23s at one stage before he came back strongly and finished the campaign out in both teams’ number 10 jerseys.
“Last season was a mixed bag,” said Prendergast. “There was a lot of in and out, and I probably wasn’t playing great.
“But yeah, it was nice to finish the season strong, and then the summer tour was just a mixed bag in terms of everything, personal and team-wise.
“But I thought it was quite motivating when all the internationals came back in [to Leinster], and you could see how hard everyone else was working, and you see the pre-season performances.
“The lads went away to Lyon, quite a stacked Lyon team, and did very well. They beat Zebre well here and then over in South Africa [in the URC], I thought they were brilliant.
“So, it was a bit of, ‘Let’s go.’ All the lads who have been behind, who weren’t in international camp, are really upping their game here, so we wanted to do the same.”
He’s still early in his senior career, but Prendergast has come to appreciate that professional rugby will bring more ups and downs.
He feels better prepared to deal with what’s ahead.
“All the players around me and the coaching staff have been excellent in dealing with the highs and lows,” said Prendergast.
“I just learned to take it week by week because it was looking pretty doom and gloom at one stage last season, and then it’s looking good, and we win the URC.”
Prendergast is planning on plenty more good times like that one in the years to come.
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Prendergast starts strongly as he pushes on from 'mixed bag' season
PERHAPS THE MOST pleasing part of Sam Prendergast’s performance for Leinster against Cardiff was his very first defensive involvement.
As the Welsh side tried to run the ball out of their 22 from Prendergast’s kick-off, the Leinster out-half closed up from the backfield, landed a firm tackle on Mason Grady to force the ball loose, and then swarmed onto Harri Millard to initiate a choke tackle along with Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan.
That first-minute turnover set a strong defensive tone for Prendergast, who completed seven tackles across the course of the 80 minutes, missing two tackles along the way.
“Maybe I’ve been criticised in the past about it, but it’s more just I’m trying to evolve that part of my game,” said Prendergast of his defence after Leinster’s 29-5 win over Cardiff on Saturday in Dublin.
“There were still missed tackles out there tonight, so I’ll still keep working on it. It’s 50% of the game, so I need to keep working on it.”
23-year-old Prendergast appeared to be in confident, relaxed form on Saturday night. He was player of the match a week on from his impressive impact off the bench for Leinster against the Sharks.
Prendergast reckons that he has bulked up “a small bit” during the off-season, which might help with his contact work.
There was a little frustration for Prendergast off the tee as he missed his first three conversion attempts, albeit with the first two of them very difficult kicks from close to the left touchline.
Prendergast, whose place-kicking accuracy improved notably upon changing his tee during last season, did go on to successfully kick two conversions for Leinster.
“A couple of bad misses in that corner, it’s a windy old ground,” said Prendergast of the RDS.
“It’s tough to come to terms with, but it was nice to actually get one from that corner [after Leinster's fourth try]. But yeah, it was a little bit frustrating. We should have been probably 21-0 up, and we were only 15-0 up, and then they get a try, and it just feels a bit… it doesn’t feel as good as it should. So, a good bit of work to do during the week.”
Undoubtedly, the standout part of Prendergast’s game for Leinster as he made his first start of the season was his running game.
He made three linebreaks and beat four defenders as he repeatedly identified space to attack, and showed his turn of pace to take it.
Again, this is something that Prendergast has identified as an area to improve. He has always excelled as a distributor, but wants to keep developing his ability to mix things up.
“It’s probably something that I’m trying to work on personally, being a bit more of a run threat,” he said. “So yeah, it was nice.
“There’s still a few opportunities where I probably ran when I should have passed, and I probably could have done better when I was running. There’s probably a lot of improvement on it but yeah it was promising.
“I think it [the space for his breaks] just opened up. A lot of that normally happens when there’s a lot of good work done on the inside, whether it’s the centres ball playing at the line, they sit people down and it creates space for me, or it’s the forwards doing the same.
“So yeah, it’s often just off a really good platform that you get the space.”
Prendergast threw a couple of nice offloads for Leinster on Saturday, while his pass behind a defender to find Jamie Osborne for his side’s fifth try showed the vision he brings to the party.
The Kildare man has always been an instinctive, creative player. He has previously cited Quade Cooper and Danny Cipriani as out-halves he admired when he was growing up.
So it was interesting to hear Leinster assistant coach Emmet Farrell recently praising Prendergast for “still trying to be himself” despite all the scrutiny and criticism he has attracted over the last couple of seasons.
“It hasn’t shook him, his attitude to the game hasn’t changed. He hasn’t tried to become more compliant,” is how Farrell put it.
And Prendergast said it has been important to him that he maintains his sense of freedom despite the pressures involved at the top level.
“Everyone wants to keep being themselves and just keep getting better,” said Prendergast. “It can be harder with setbacks, and you probably try to change a little bit.
“I suppose that is important, and I think everyone within the group tries to do that, and everyone in the group tries to motivate each other in trying to do that, especially when young lads come in. And lads would have always said that to me. I do try to do that.”
Prendergast would like to think that last season has made him stronger.
“Up and down” is one way he describes a season that involved him being dropped from Ireland and Leinster’s matchday 23s at one stage before he came back strongly and finished the campaign out in both teams’ number 10 jerseys.
“Last season was a mixed bag,” said Prendergast. “There was a lot of in and out, and I probably wasn’t playing great.
“But yeah, it was nice to finish the season strong, and then the summer tour was just a mixed bag in terms of everything, personal and team-wise.
“But I thought it was quite motivating when all the internationals came back in [to Leinster], and you could see how hard everyone else was working, and you see the pre-season performances.
“The lads went away to Lyon, quite a stacked Lyon team, and did very well. They beat Zebre well here and then over in South Africa [in the URC], I thought they were brilliant.
“So, it was a bit of, ‘Let’s go.’ All the lads who have been behind, who weren’t in international camp, are really upping their game here, so we wanted to do the same.”
He’s still early in his senior career, but Prendergast has come to appreciate that professional rugby will bring more ups and downs.
He feels better prepared to deal with what’s ahead.
“All the players around me and the coaching staff have been excellent in dealing with the highs and lows,” said Prendergast.
“I just learned to take it week by week because it was looking pretty doom and gloom at one stage last season, and then it’s looking good, and we win the URC.”
Prendergast is planning on plenty more good times like that one in the years to come.
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In form Ireland Leinster playmaker Sam Prendergast URC