Alex Kendellen: 'It’s massive for us as players to look at that and see what they’ve done'

Alex Kendellen said he had sought out his provincial team-mates for an inside track on the Emerging Ireland set-up before going into camp.

SENIOR TEST HONOURS: The pathway has been laid down by players like Jack Crowley who progressed from the Emerging Ireland squad to senior level which Alex Kendellen hopes to replicate. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Alex Kendellen believes the example shown by Jack Crowley, Calvin Nash and Joe McCarthy in graduating from an Emerging Ireland tour to full senior Test honours will help unite the squad he leads in South Africa this week.

Simon Easterby’s Emerging Ireland tourists kick off their quickfire three-match stand in Bloemfontein against the Pumas at Toyota Stadium on Wednesday afternoon with Munster back-rower Kendellen set to captain the side, two years after missing out on the initial visit to South Africa due to a concussion.

While Kendellen was recuperating both physically and mentally from the disappointment of missing out, several members of that squad used the tour as a major leg up to Ireland caps in the Test windows that followed with Munster team-mates Crowley and Nash two of the major beneficiaries of the experience, the fly-half and wing both part of a successful Six Nations title campaign in 2024 alongside Leinster lock McCarthy while Connacht back-rower Cian Prendergast and Leinster centre Jamie Osborne have also earned Ireland debuts since.

The 2024 captain agreed their successful use of the 2022 Emerging tour has been serving as a useful motivation for the current tourists.

“Yeah, 100%,” Kendellen said. “There’s a clear trajectory for those players anyway, who’ve come through. Even the lads down in Munster, the Jack Crowleys, the Calvin Nashs, you see them perform on the biggest stages, in World Cups and Six Nations, so yeah, it’s massive for us as players to look at that and see what they’ve done and how they’ve taken their opportunity.” 

Kendellen said he had sought out his provincial team-mates for an inside track on the Emerging Ireland set-up before going into camp.

“I was lucky enough to pick a few of their brains during the week about what this tour is like and stuff like that and they’ve been very good to me over the last couple of days.

“They just said to go out and enjoy it and try and use it as an opportunity. Don’t feel too much pressure out there, it’s an enjoyable tour and try and dive in there head first and really get stuck into it, that it’s enjoyable.” 

With individual development and advancement a cornerstone within an Emerging Ireland set-up, the former Ireland Under-20 skipper has been tasked with uniting the touring squad for the single purpose of winning matches against the Pumas, Australia’s Western Force and The Cheetahs, in the next eight days.

"We're under no illusions, everyone is kind of in the shop window here but it's about bringing the team together here and trying to work as best you can for the guy next to you is very important.

"I think that leads to performance then so it's important for us to come together as quickly as possible, get training under our belt and then to go South Africa and enjoy those games that we're playing in.” 

Being asked by Graham Rowntree to captain Munster for a run of games starting with the marquee Pairc Ui Chaoimh tour match against the Crusaders last February was a significant milestone for Kendellen, now 23.

“It was a massive thing for me to get that run of URC games and to captain Munster for, I think, five or six games in a row. It showed the trust Wig down in Munster had in me and it was incredible.

“An incredible experience and it’s something I’m working towards and I’m looking to try and make that seven jersey my own, to be honest.

“That’s my goal. I want that seven jersey more than anything and I think this is a great opportunity to show a different group of coaches what I can bring to table as well.

“There’s a few things that I’m working on. Trying to get better every day is a big one for me, coming into Munster and just trying to chip away every day and work with the coaches as much as possible. Down at Munster, Denis Leamy and Mike Prendergast have been incredibly good to me over the last year or two and working extremely closely with them is important to me to try and get as much as possible out of myself.”