Mike Prendergast: 'I would definitely love the opportunity to take over Munster'

The former scrum-half and current attack coach opened his bid to become Munster’s first homegrown head coach since his former team-mate, the late Anthony Foley.

IN THE HUNT: Attack Coach Mike Prendergast during Munster's training session on Tuesday. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.

The interviews for those hoping to succeed Graham Rowntree as Munster head coach appear to remain some way off but Mike Prendergast made a convincing case for his candidacy after throwing his name into the hat on Tuesday.

The former scrum-half and current attack coach, with a freshly-inked two-year contract extension for his present role tucked firmly in his breast pocket, opened his bid to become Munster’s first homegrown head coach since his former team-mate, the late Anthony Foley (2014-16) as preparations continued for this Friday’s Champions Cup pool trip to Castres.

And while the 47-year-old insisted it would remain business as usual in terms of preparing the side under interim head coach Ian Costello, as rival candidates wait in the wings to press their claims, he will be in the unique position of pressing his suitability for the top job every time the team takes the field, starting at Stade Pierre Fabre.

Prendergast’s CV as an attack coach is impressive having joined the professional ranks following a spell as Young Munster director of rugby with assistant roles in France at Grenoble, Oyonnax, Stade Francais and Racing 92, from where incoming head coach Rowntree coaxed him home to Limerick to join his fledgling coaching ticket in the summer of 2022.

A URC title in their first campaign as a management group was followed by a first-place finish in the standings at the end of last season before a semi-final exit and despite a difficult start to 2024-25 which coincided with Rowntree’s exit by mutual consent on October 29, the two-year extensions both Prendergast and defence coach Denis Leamy signed last month give them a place at the table for the next two years regardless of the person who gets the head seat.

Prendergast is fine with that but he feels the time and his experience is right to step up to the main role and all that entails.

“I would definitely love the opportunity if it came up,” he said.

“I will totally respect whatever decision is made because I will still be an attack coach here. I think the one thing I always wanted to do when I was playing here and started to coach here, I fortunately got a very good opportunity through Bernard Jackman to get the break to go abroad (to Grenoble).

“Sometimes people ask to look back on your career and if you’d do anything different, and I’d say, absolutely not as a coach.

“It was hard at the time. I went to four different clubs, so we moved around with a young family. There was a lot of upheaval, the kids were going to different schools and stuff, but I suppose from a professional point of view, going into different environments, going to different clubs, Oyonnax and Grenoble, you were fighting to stay up in terms of budgets etc etc.

“Then going to the bigger clubs in terms of Stade and definitely Racing, and what you learn through those clubs.

“I’ll give you a good example, I was in Oyonnax and you’re losing a lot of your games, it’s just the nature of it, sometimes you’re playing an away game and you’re getting back at four or five o’clock in the morning, and three weeks in-a-row where you’ve lost.

“You’re trying to go into the players and pick out the positives and stay positive with them because you know they have to go back after it again next week.

“If you go in negative there, obviously there are points you need to make, but you live through those moments as a coach and those experiences you learn a huge amount.

“And then you go to a Racing and you’re winning a lot of your games and you have world stars in your team and how you manage that.

“And through the head coaches that I would have worked with as well. I have been fortunate, there has been a lot of change in terms of the different types of experiences I’ve had, from tough ones to better ones in terms of winning.

“In terms of setting yourself up to be a head coach, and with my experiences, the older you get, that’s one thing I always wanted, if I was coaching back in Munster, you wanted to have yourself to be the best equipped possible.

“And I think in terms of experiences, I have been fortunate to have a bit of that behind me, thankfully.”

The two-year contract that will keep Prendergast to the summer of 2027 suggests the new head coach will have to be on the same page as his incumbent assistants, also including Denis Leamy and the attack coach did not disagree.

"That's something the club, the decision-makers, will take into account to make sure that whoever it is, the profile fits with the coaches that are there, whether it be me or another person.

“And I'm sure they'll have good conversations around that because it's a decision that has to be the right one. I think with all due respect to the club, that's why they're taking their time. As I said, it's business as usual for us, we'll crack on and do our jobs.

“Knowing that it’s going to take a bit of time, I’m happy with that, there’s no problem. I’m still cracking on in terms of the attack, still involved in recruitment, planning, pre-season next year – everything is laid out for us and whoever is the person to come into that job, whether it’s me or somebody else, we will have the process started.

"The worst thing is if you stay still, you can’t do that in this business.”