Difficult spell 'hasn't shook' confident Sam Prendergast

Sam Prendergast couldn’t be described as a member of the old guard. Not yet, at just 23 years of age, but his input off the bench against the Sharks last Saturday spoke of a senior man reasserting his authority.

He kicked a sublime 50:22 shortly after replacing Gabriel 49 minutes in at Ellis Park, and came up with a handful of lovely moments that drew praise from 1995 World Cup-winning out-half Joel Stransky on South African TV.

It was the Ireland playmaker’s first appearance of the new URC season and Emmett Farrell, the province’s kicking coach and long-time former video analyst, loved what he saw from his vantage point back in Dublin.

“Yeah, he looked really good when he came on, he looked very sharp. I was delighted for him. Like, that kick was good. He put a little kind of grubber in later on that pinned them in, and then he hits the crossfield kick for the try at the end that gets his points, which is great.

“He's a natural striker of the ball, he's really good. Even from a couple of years ago, he's hitting those spirals, like, he's kicking 50, 60-yard spirals in training then and then he brings that to the pitch.

“There was a kick against the Bulls last year where he did similar, but it was right across the field, another 50:22. It was this time last year. He put an absolute bomb across the field, the spiral was beautiful.” 

Prendergast endured a brutally tough spell last season when he lost his jerseys at both club and national levels before rebounding at the back end of a campaign that peaked with a commanding display in the URC final defeat of the Bulls.

His kicking from the tee has been an issue, but his percentages have reached 85% since the Six Nations. Some muscle was added over the summer and that should help with a defensive game that has been his main limitation up to now.

“He has bumped up a little bit,” said Farrell. “He'll be the first one to say that his first tackle of the season was on [Andre] Esterhuizen, and then it was a turnover. He dropped it, so that goes down to Sam's tackle.

“He'll be the first to point that out, I'm sure, when he gets back, but he's still young and learning and growing and we just all have to support him in that. I think he knows he's learned a lot over the last couple of years as far as the pressure he's under and what he has to do.

"It hasn't shook him. His attitude to the game hasn't changed. He hasn't tried to become more compliant with everything he's saying, he's still trying to be himself, which is great, and we have to encourage that. I'm hoping this year he's going to kick on. Definitely on Saturday, it was a great start for him.” 

Farrell’s new kicking brief extends far beyond the senior Leinster squad to players in the academy, sub-academy and down into the U19s and provincial Youths team. The idea is to share knowledge and prep youngsters to be more oven-ready when they graduate.

Players are graduating earlier now than in years past. The Sharks had their own 20-year-old at No.10 at the weekend and Vusi Moyo has already debuted for the Springboks, against Wales back in July.

Gabriel, Leinster’s Austrian-born No.10, is eight months older. He may not be quite at that altitude yet but even Prendergast didn’t get to start back-to-back URC games on the road against South African opposition at that age.

"The thing about Casper is, I don't know if you know him, but he's very relaxed,” said Farrell. “He's got a great attitude to the game, he doesn't get flustered by mistakes, the next minute he's there again to do it again.

"It wasn't a surprise that he'd be comfortable or look comfortable. He was taking the ball to the line against South Africans and he's running at the line. He goes through for the third try, that's pretty exciting for a 20-year-old to be doing that at this level.

“He can do lots of unbelievable things in training. There's other bits he's going to have to get better at, and as a 10 there's some discipline in how he runs the game. He'll learn that the more minutes he plays, but from the start it's been excellent."