Experience undermined by injury trouble for Ireland A's Prendergast

Mike Prendergast 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.

Mon, 24 Feb, 2025 - 01:00

Simon Lewis, Bristol

ENGLAND A 28 IRELAND A 12

Mike Prendergast admitted Ireland A’s experience had been undermined by the slew of injuries that contributed to their 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."

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."

Ireland A had twice been held up over the line during a strong start in the relatively milder conditions before Ollie Hassell-Collins opened the scoring on 13 minutes.

Ireland hit back with a well-worked try off lineout ball as Frawley and then captain Max Deegan engineered an opening for wing Shayne Bolton to make it 7-5 four minutes later.

English skipper Jack van Poortvliet extended the lead with his 24th-minute try, with Charlie Atkinson claiming his second conversion and the home side led 14-5 at half-time.

Ireland withstood heavy pressure for long periods of the second half before finally relenting with six minutes to go, Greg Fisilau’s try converted by Jamie Shillcock for a 21-5 lead.

Ireland replied through centre Hugh Gavin only to conceded a penalty try at the death but Prendergast was proud of the effort given the difficult circumstances.

“Nathan Doak ended up playing 10 and he was only introduced into the group during the week as well. Fair play to him, I thought Nathan had a fine game today, his kicking game was excellent. So there's massive disruption.

“You lose a guy like Ciarán Frawley with his experience coming back to us. He drove the week really, really well and then Harry Byrne only getting a few minutes in the game. So there was disruption. Look, we needed to be better, absolutely we did. The scoreline reflects that but in terms of effort, I couldn't fault any of the lads.

“Collectively the lads stuck in there. All the adversity, all the changes that went on... guys coming off, our ability to stick in the fight was really, really good.

"Performance-wise, I though Alex Kendellen was really, really good, played 80 minutes, Nathan Doak played really well, Hugh Gavin in midfield carried really well, he's a robust player... those are probably the three players. But collectively, they stuck in there and stuck together."

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."

ENGLAND A: J Carpenter; T Elliott (G Hendy, 49), M Ojomoh, W Butt, O Hassell-Collins; C Atkinson (J Shillcock, 59), J van Poortvliet (W Porter, 67); P Brantingham (T Haffar, 49), C Langdon (G Oghre, 49), G Kloska (L Green, 49); H Tizard (R Capstick, 57), T Lockett; J Kenningham, A Balbeary (G Fisilau, 25-36 – HIA & 57).

IRELAND A: S Daly (H Byrne, 20; F Gunne, 25 - HIA); T O’Brien, J Postlethwaite, H Gavin, S Bolton; C Frawley (B Gleeson, 55 - HIA), N Doak; T O’Toole (P McCarthy, 55), D Barron (S Smyth, 5 - HIA), J Aungier (O Jager, 45-69); E O’Connell (C O’Tighearnaigh, 45), D Murray; M Deegan, A Kendellen, S Jansen (A Soroka, 69).

Yellow card: M Deegan 78 mins

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)