'That sort of experience is not easy to replace': McMillan on departure of Mike Prendergast

The well-regarded coach will join Johann Van Graan’s coaching ticket for 2026/27 season, and may be a likely replacement for the South African if he decides to return to his native country at some point

Prendergast and Clayton McMillan ahead of the match against Glasgow Warriors in January. Pic: Paul Currie/Inpho

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has expressed his disappointment at the departure of attack coach Mike Prendergast after the Limerick native decided this week to step away from his position at the end of the current season to join Bath.

Prendergast is set to join Johann Van Graan’s Rec coaching ticket for 2026/27 season, and could be a strong candidate to replace  the South African if he decides to return to his native country at some point.

At a Thursday media conference ahead of Munster’s Saturday's URC clash with Zebre at Thomond Park, McMillan spoke of Prendergast and how his absence will be noticed.

“There’s huge disappointment obviously around Prendy moving on. He’s a quality man as you alluded to. He grew up, played, coached and accumulated a lot of experience in other environments and that sort of experience is not easy to replace but he’s made a decision that is in the best interests of him and his family and he’s going with our blessing.” 

McMillan confirmed that he and his coaching staff have not put their heads together yet on who will be a viable replacement for the former Racing 92, Stade Français, Oyonnax and Grenoble coach.

Prendergast and Defence Coach Denis Leamy. Pic:  Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho

“He’s fully committed to the rest of the season, as we all are, and still a fair amount of rugby to be played so we haven’t given any consideration around what the make-up of the coaching team will look like because it’s relatively new news to us.

“Legitimately, I spoke to Prendy Thursday (last week) about what he was thinking but it wasn’t confirmed until we came in a couple of days ago so this is all very fresh and raw.

“Whatever happens moving forward we won’t make any quick decisions. We’ll take stock and get through this week. We have an important game we need to win, then there’s a bit more downtime between then and our trip to Africa. Maybe then we’ll start to consider how and where we move forward.” 

Prendergast was overlooked for the position of Munster head coach after the departure of Graham Rowntree in 2024.

During his tenure at the province, the 48-year-old was influential in helping Rowntree's Munster clinch an unlikely URC title in 2022/23.

The following season he helped the team reach the URC semi-finals after a top-of-the-table finish in the regular season.