Sam Prendergast 'will be a world-class player' says Luke McGrath
WORLD CLASS: Sam Prendergast is tackled by Tommaso Menoncello and Manuel Zuliani of Italy. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
We’re a little shy of two years since the higher education of Sam Prendergast began with the out-half’s senior Leinster debut away to the Lions at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg.
Barely 20 at the time, the Kildare man played all 80 minutes in a three-point win, and again a week later when a painfully callow touring team went down 62-7 to a much stiffer Bulls challenge at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Leinster are back in South Africa this next two weeks for their by-now annual post-Six Nations trek. Prendergast is not with them having graduated up the ranks to the senior national team back in November.
His recent Six Nations was a mixed bag. There were moments and chunks of games where he impressed, others where that inexperience and lack of physique on the defensive side were all too apparent, but the future remains bright.
Luke McGrath has seen the progression for some time. The Leinster scrum-half, one of the senior players down south this next fortnight for URC games against the Bulls and Sharks, has no doubt about that.
“For someone involved in his first Six Nations I thought he did brilliantly. I've played with him a couple of times this year and he will be a world-class player.
"He knows himself he has work to do but you could see how talented he is. I'm sure there will be more to come from him.”
If the Six Nations was worrying from an Ireland point of view then it stands to reason that Leinster should have some grounds for concern themselves given the province is the bulk supplier of talent to the national squad.
Senior coach Jacques Nienaber’s claims that he watched the Championships as a fan with a pint in his hand are in no way believable but he was keeping whatever tactical, strategic or personnel ‘learnings’ to himself.
For now, at least.
Nienaber did admit that he can't yet know if players will need a lift when they wear blue again because he can’t yet ascertain their mood, but there is an upside to Leinster from the Test scene in the last few months.
Tadhg Furlong returned from a long and frustrating injury absence to bag 33 minutes in the last round against Italy, Dan Sheehan starred after a sooner-than-expected return from ACL troubles, and James Lowe got much-needed game time into the legs after injury.
Jamie Osborne earned cap numbers six and seven, Jack Boyle earned his first two, while Gus McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson got to build on the foundations they made to their senior Ireland careers at the back end of last year.
That’s all huge for Leinster coming into the business end of this season.
"It's always nice for us as a club to see players performing and getting invited into the Ireland setup, and then above that playing for Ireland and getting starts,” said Nienaber.
"The experience that they would have gained there is very valuable.
“It's experience that we will hopefully be able to tap into going forward in this important block of games that's ahead of us. So yeah, it's always positive.
"That's what you want as a club, you actually want to lose your players to go and play at international level.”
Leinster expect some of those fringe Six Nations players to play a part in their South African tour though, with logistic issues, it may be that they have a larger role to play next week when they face the Sharks in Durban.
