ALL EYES WERE on Sam Prendergast at the RDS on Friday night and a confident outing from the young out-half in Leinster’s 33-7 defeat of Connacht ensured he remained the centre of attention post-match.
Discussions remain ongoing around Prendergast’s potential loan move to Connacht next season, with both camps seemingly unsure on how those negotiations will play out.
While it wasn’t the most complete Leinster performance Prendergast generally ran the attack well and had some lovely touches on what was just his fourth start of the season.
The former Ireland U20 star played a central role in two of Leinster’s three first-half tries, kicked all four of his conversion attempts and highlighted his versatility by playing the final 20 minutes at fullback.
Prendergast’s lovely show-and-go sent Jimmy O’Brien over for Leinster’s second try on 17 minutes and shortly after his smart slip pass to Jack Conan allowed the number eight break through a gap before Ciarán Frawley scored their third of the evening.
Connacht boss Pete Wilkins said while Prendergast was not a done deal, signing an out-half is a priority for the province ahead of next season with JJ Hanrahan facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to an ACL injury.
If Prendergast doesn’t move west, the province have scope to recruit an out-half from outside of Ireland.
“Look, if he is coming, I certainly don’t know about it at this point and that’s not trying to straight-bat it. That’s where we are at,” Wilkins said.
“We have obviously lost JJ for the best part of next season, certainly until the new year anyway. I think it’s important we get another ‘10’ in, partly as back-up to Jack Carty but also as competition.
I think both JJ and Jack have stepped up this year in terms of having that competition with each other, so I think it is important (to sign an out-half).
“Who that is going to be, I honestly don’t know. We are at the stage of compiling a shortlist. That can be people outside of Ireland. We have scope to do that for something like this.
“I think it will be a short-term agreement or a medium-term loan, but you also look in Ireland and that means for something like that to come to fruition, you need the IRFU aligned with whatever the chats are.
“You need any of the parent clubs, the other provinces to be aligned as well, so it’s not a straightforward process. But we definitely want to bring someone in and we will see where we go over the next couple of weeks.”
Friday night showcased why Connacht are so keen to sign the 21-year-old, and why Leinster want to keep him on board for next season.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was pleased with the Kildare native’s performance on the night and indicated the out-half could well stay with his home province.
“Yeah, definitely. When you’ve got young players, 20/21 years of age and you’re sort of in the Academy cycle or you’re stepping into the senior ranks of the team, as I’ve said, you have to keep picking them,” Cullen said.
“I know lots of people would love us to pick the exact same team all the time, but unfortunately that’s not how it is because then when you need to fall back on players or whatever that is, have competition for places and all the rest, that’s what you need.
“It requires us to be brave at different times and pick young players, and listen, I thought Sam did lots of good things.
“Every young player, all the players have things to work on, so it’s just about improving all the time. We don’t just want to have players ready to play at this level, it’s to play at the levels beyond that as well – be top-end international players.
“That’s a big part of what we are trying to do here. But yeah, it was another positive step for Sam and his development to get through 80 minutes.
“You saw lots of positive involvements during the course of the game. He was obviously 10 for the first 60 minutes and then even he moves to 15 as well towards the tail end of the game. So, yeah, it’s another positive outing for him.”
While Connacht’s season is now over, Leinster can look forward to an Aviva Stadium quarter-final date with Richie Murphy’s Ulster on Saturday.
The province expect to go into the game with no fresh injury concerns. Cullen confirmed that backrower Conan was substituted as a precaution after feeling some tightness in the second half, and added some promising news on Garry Ringrose – who hasn’t played any rugby since Ireland’s Six Nations defeat of Scotland on 16 March.
The centre received a positive update after seeing a specialist on Thursday and could return to full contact training this week, potentially coming into contention to feature at the weekend.
It’s a win win situation all round. Cullen favours the Byrnes brothers ahead of him so game time will be limited plus with Barrett, who will probably play 10, game time will be cut again.
@Liam23: Cullen is a master at telling lads what they want to hear around contract renegotiation time. Word is he wants to keep Prendergast and even though it was only announced a month ago that he had signed a new contract, Harry Byrne has been told that they won’t stand in his way if he wants to find a new club.
@Liam23: wonder if they have scoop for a short term NIQ, if allowed to shop outside Ireland. For IQ OHs theres not many, Ulster did well to turn up Aidan Morgan, apart from Paddy Jackson/stuart Olding are there any others? Id guess it would be a short term NIQ, but by this stage any good ones will already be signed up Gordon of the Rebels may be available for a season.
@Kingshu: being allowed getting a NIQ outhalf and being able to afford a top notch NIQ outhalf are two different things. Connacht have offloaded an awful lot of players this year to balance the books. With the Sportsground redevelopment and the subsequent reduction in capacity for the season again, an international grade outhalf would be out of reach imo. Jackson and Olding will never play in Ireland again.
@Liam23: I’d be pretty sure Barrett will play 12 mostly, effectively replacing Ngatai. I can’t see him taking the minutes Prendergast needs in the URC. That said, a half season load for Prendergast does seem to benefit all parties
@3xHUEOS7: Oh, big development if that’s true – where did you see that? Byrne the younger to Connacht could be a decent move for all involved too.
Would love to see him at Connacht buts it’s really up the the IRFU to step in. It’s not Leinster’s fault having so many good players but IRFU should be looking to move at least 1 of the current 10s to another province for game time and development. Sure Leinster even have another good 10 coming from academy. The 10 is a position where you need the minutes and gathering experience before you reach potential. That’s what Harry Byrne, Frawley and Prendergast need.
@Shane: they’re not pieces of furniture. They’re contracted to play for Leinster. If they don’t wanna go you can’t force them
It’s very rare that the Irish provinces and the international side put its faith into talent at a young age, (McCarthy, James Ryan, Sexton being some of the noted few) but I’d love to see him given the starting reigns at Leinster next season. He seems to be the type of lad that once he’s in there will be no shifting him.
So is JJ Hanrahan off on his globetrotting again or what. I thought he was brought in as the backup/competition for Carty. What a mess.
@Ray Ridge: Did you read the article? The answer is in it.
@Ray Ridge: he done his ACL against the Dragons you dunce
@Ray Ridge: didn’t even read the article before you hit the comments section with more of your usual negative rubbish.
@Ray Ridge: read the article pal
@Ray Ridge: LMAO
@3xHUEOS7: So he going to be out for the next 2 years injured, is it. They already have Hawkshaw and Forde and Carthy ffs. It’s a joke. Should never have brought Hanrahan. OK, his injury is unfortunate, but there’s a reason this guy has spent a career globetrotting around Europe: it’s because he’s hopeless.
@3xHUEOS7: I know that ffs. Sure wasn’t I even watching the game. He’ll miss a couple of months of the season. As I said, they have Hawkshaw and Forde to cover 10 as well as Carty. It’s not like they have the funds to go and buy a quality 10.
@Ray Ridge: who said 2 years? It’s said he’ll miss the most of next season, definitely won’t be seen this side of Christmas. Forde has started one game at 10, where Connacht were beaten 42-20 at home to Glasgow, Hawkshaw has started 6 games at 10 and with the way Carty is playing, I’d pick Denis Buckley at 10 ahead of him
@3xHUEOS7: He’ll miss 3 or 4 months of the season not 3 or 4 years, hence why I asked was he globetrotting again or something. Agree regarding Carty. I’d also have Buckley at 10 ahead of jj.
@3xHUEOS7: They should get rid of Carty and Hanrahan and get a half decent 10. Sentiment has no place in top level sport.
@Ray Ridge: again, I don’t know where you’ve pulled 3 or 4 years from. 3 or 4 months is still half the season. If they have any bit of ambition, they’ll try get in a quality 10. Finding one might be easier said than done
@3xHUEOS7: That’s my point. No point getting in another 10 unless it’s going to an upgrade on what’s there. They went half a season without Hanrahan already. It’s not as if he’s a world beater.
@Ray Ridge: “They went half a season without Hanrahan already”. He’s been gone for 3 games Ray, 3 games. Give it a rest.
@David Hickey: Times flies when you’re having fun, David :)
If he comes, good, if not, sure we’ll be fine!!!
Means fast tracking Sean Naughton into the system. Really like this kid and his potential as a future 10 for Connacht.
I do think that Hawksaw has earned the right to have a go at 10 next season. Wherever he’s played this season, he’s put in a Shift for us…
At the end of the day, no one include (especially) IRFU in Ireland help Connacht. They must resolve this problem by their ability only. (only hard and hard working)
And then IRFU won’t intervene to whatever Connacht do even if they depend on Paddy Jackson. Maybe IRFU don’t care the existence of Connacht in near future.
If Jackson refuse to come down the west, I think that Mack Hansen will be the first candidate. There are many excellent young crops in Connacht like Devine, Gavin etc.
So Connacht should use them as early as possible including academy players.