Sam Prendergast shines again for Leinster after two months in the shadows

BRIGHT LIGHT: Sam Prendergast after the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Affidea Stadium in Belfast. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

Almost two months had passed since Sam Prendergast had been dropped by Ireland by the time he earned the man-of-the-match award for Leinster away to Ulster in Friday night’s URC interpro in Belfast.

The 23-year had gone from first-choice out-half with his country to a point where he didn’t make the matchday squad for any of the last three Six Nations games. And then Harry Byrne usurped him at Leinster.

With Ciaran Frawley providing the same versatility off the bench for club as he had for country, Prendergast was left in the stands for Leinster’s knockout Champions Cup games against Edinburgh and Sale Sharks.

Since losing his place with Ireland back in February, his only game time had been 80 minutes in a heavy defeat to Glasgow in Scotstoun and then a half-hour as a replacement against Scarlets. So, the Ulster run should do wonders for him.

There was an authority to how Prendergast played at the Affidea Stadium. It helped that he played behind a pack that dominated Ulster for most of the first hour but his execution was crisp and he scored the bonus-point try too.

His place-kicking, such an issue, as it has been for Jack Crowley, was excellent with four successful attempts from five that included a couple of difficult efforts from the vicinity of the sidelines.

Defensively? Not perfect, but this was still a huge step.

“Yeah, and he just kept his head down working away,” said his lead coach Leo Cullen. “It's frustrating for a number of guys in terms of selection at the moment because it's a competitive group and that's what we want.

“We talked about it all year, X amount of guys away with the Lions at the start of the year, there was lots of guys getting opportunities, so it's great for that building depth which, listen, we're at this stage of the season where it's very competitive now.

“Sam is a good example of that.

“He's just had to be patient and I thought he was great there today. He managed the game, managed the territory battle particularly well, and obviously comes up with some big moments himself individually, so it was great overall performance.”

Cullen was thrilled with the way in which Leinster grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. They led 15-0 at the break and 29-0 before Ulster claimed three tries in ten minutes midway through the second-half before closing it out.

Claiming five match points was impressive, denying the hosts even one was a bonus and it left Leinster in third place in the URC overnight, with four points between them and Ulster and with only three regular season games to go.

“I thought the lads controlled the game really, really well and similar at the start of the second-half. We looked strong, carrying, moving the ball to space and good variety in our game. I thought it was good, credit to the players. I thought they were great.

“Then Robbie [Henshaw] scores early in the second half, then Sam scores himself, so 29-0 at that stage and you're thinking, ‘oh this is...’ But then Ulster, as we knew they would at some point, they had a real purple patch.”

Richie Murphy could look at that attempted comeback with a sense of pride but the disappointment at failing to fire a shot until it was too late against a heavily-rotated Leinster side will be the overriding emotion for now.

“It's not that we went out there with the intention of not playing well in the first-half, you know what I mean? So I'm extremely proud of the players in relation to how they reacted when they were under massive pressure at 29-nil down and managed to put together some really good things.

“We've a fair bit of learning to do in relation to that first-half. It's probably a little bit of the difference of the level, you know, [playing] Challenge Cup the last couple of weeks, and you're playing against a Champions Cup semi-final team, even though they're heavily rotated. But there's good learnings in that for us, and it'll help us going forward.”

Murphy’s concerns aren’t limited to the performance and the result.

Australian loosehead Angus Bell went off with an injury that may mean he has played his last game for the province while James Hume, Scott Wilson and Tom O’Toole all picked up injuries before being replaced as well.

And Cormac Izuchukwu played on after shipping a serious blow before coming off at the interval.