Mike Prendergast: Ireland A's injuries probably undermined the exercise against England

The Munster attack coach saw three key players from his own province among the long list of casualties from an attritional, weather-hampered contest in the English west country.

INJURY ISSUES: Ireland head coach and attack coach Mike Prendergast before the representative fixture rugby union match between England A and Ireland A at Ashton Gate in Bristol. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile.

Mike Prendergast admitted Ireland A’s experience had been undermined by the slew of injuries that contributed to their 28-12 defeat by England A at a wind and rainswept Ashton Gate on Sunday.

The Munster attack coach had been given the reins of the Irish second string for this first A fixture in three years and saw three key players from his own province among the long list of casualties from an attritional, weather-hampered contest in the English west country.

In-form full-back Shane Daly appears to sustained a serious hamstring injury that saw him carried off and placed on a stretcher cart, hooker Diarmuid Barron failed a Head Injury Assessment and replacement tighthead prop Oli Jager managed 24 minutes off the bench before he limped out of the action.

Ireland A also lost both their fly-halves on a miserable afternoon when they were forced to defend for long periods and were outgunned by four tries to two.

Bristol Bears loanee Harry Byrne had replaced Daly on 20 minutes but only lasted five minutes before he was forced off after a head knock, while starting 10 Ciaran Frawley was also removed for an HIA late on and did not return.

"For the first 10 or 15 minutes, it looked like we were getting into a bit of flow and then we just started losing guys and losing guys," head coach Prendergast said.

"It probably does (undermine the exercise), to be honest with you, in terms of the game. I thought the week was really important for them as well but from the game perspective, it was unfortunate.

"For the first 10 or 15 minutes, there was actually some really good competition between us but unfortunately a lot of things just didn't go our way."

Prendergast addressed the Munster-specific injuries as he prepared to return to his province for the resumption of their URC campaign at home to Edinburgh in Cork this Friday.

"We already have a few at home who are still recovering. It's just the nature of the sport we play. But just in terms of numbers, I'm not sure exactly how good or bad but Shane's doesn't look good. Hamstring, it doesn't look good. Diarmuid Barron went off with a HIA, Oli Jager had to go on and come off as well.

"Yeah, from a Munster perspective it wasn't a good one."

Asked how he would frame the exercise to his Ireland A players, Prendergast said: "We never like losing, no one does. We're a competitive nation and to lose the game is obviously really disappointing.

“I suppose if we're honest, a lot of things didn't go our way in terms of losing three players to HIA. I hate looking for excuses but I haven't been involved in a game that has this much disruption.

“We lost two 10s and a couple of guys stayed on who were carrying injuries. Look, sometimes that's the 6/2 (bench split) and there's always going to be risk but there was a reason we went for it. We knew they were going to be physical and we needed a bit of oomph off our bench.

“We probably unloaded our bench earlier than we imagined and that happens. I couldn't fault the effort of the lads for sticking in there and you could see it in the second half, the penalty count in the first 20 minutes started to go high and we ended up with someone like Max Deegan on the wing as well.

“It's challenging enough already having people in for a week and getting them together. Then you're asking people to learn different roles on top of what they're trying to get done in a week.

"A good learning for all of us, me, the staff, the players included."