Sam Prendergast, the big debate: Leinster must decide whether to stick or twist
Leinster boss Leo Cullen must decide whether or not to drop Sam Prendergast - he will be wrestling with his hardest-ever selection call this week.
And he will do so with pressure from above as Andy Farrell wants the 22 year-old in the Leinster first team for better or for worse; it's no skin off his nose who wins trophies at club level as his focus is on RWC 2027.Moreover being Head Coach at Leinster, a club with 11 of the 14 Central Contracted Ireland players these days, is difficult enough as you watch for what is raining down from atop.There is also the need to work with what's beneath and his Attack Coach Tyler Bleyendaal is resolutely pro-Prendergast, that's his boy too.So while the likelihood is the generally conservative-thinking Cullen would have leaned towards Ross Byrne for the latter stages, quarters, semis and final, of an increasingly nervy URC progression.Rely on the idea he has the competition's best squad, take a risk-averse approach in the form of a straightforward conduit at out-half, someone to simply link his Lions/international backs with his Lions/international forwards.Take comfort from the idea that even with a completely mis-firing no10 against Glasgow, there was still enough to concede the last two scores and still win by 18 points (forwards decide who wins matches, backs decide by how much!)But selections at Leinster have other, hidden agendas such as All Black Jordie Barrett and Springbok RG Snyman being placed on the bench, their use being subordinate to the interests of the national team.Moreover if Farrell is okay with dropping Prendergast, he would likely prefer Ciaran Frawley to play no10 rather than Ross Byrne who has not only been supernumerary to the Ireland set-up, he is out of the equation from here on in having signed a three-year deal with Gloucester.In this, Cullen can't win between announcing team selection on Friday lunchtime and kick-off at Croke Park some 29 hours later. It is a stand or fall on the result at the final whistle.Warren Gatland has seen it all, done it all, worn all the teeshirts. He says he was genuinely put out, rocked back, by the level of venom directed at him over his 2013 Lions dropping of O'Driscoll.(Although he also says BOD, whom he accidentally bumped into after the team was named, indicated that as Tour Captain the coach had his total backing saying something on the lines of 'I've walked the walk, now I've to show I can talk the talk in there...').Gatland was, of course, vindicated as the Lions won that Test Series albeit the Gatland-BOD relationship is frosty to this day.But then it had not been a bromance beforehand either. Their answers about each other in Cardiff after the historic 2009 Grand Slam were decidedly angular and awkward for those present.Didier Deschamps got selection for the 2018 Fifa World Cup final wrong. He shouldn't have started N'golo Konte who was ill and, indeed, was taken ashore after 55 minutes. Deschamps got away with it though, France beat Croatia 4-2.Antonio Conte's Chelsea won the 2016/17 Premier title posting a record number of wins in the process and with Diego Costa scoring 20 goals in 34 games. Before Costa was informed by the coach by text he wasn't wanted for next season."Hi Diego, I hope you are well," began Conte's message altogether reasonably considering he was limited by the number of characters he could use. "Thanks for the seasono [sic] we spent together. Good luck for the next year but you are not in my plan."Conte had decided to replace Costa with Alvaro Morata. He did, and sold Costa in January without playing him for even a minute to that point. Chelsea finished fifth, the Spaniard contributing just 11 goals in 31 matches, three coming in the one game against soon-to-be relegated Stoke City.Cullen could look to some rugby examples too, not least when it comes to picking the no10.Eddie Jones says he lost the 2019 Rugby World Cup final by tinkering with his semi-final 10-12-13 line-up and picking Mako Vunipola ahead of Joe Mahler at prop.England started the semi-final against the All Blacks - who were on an 18 match unbeaten World Cup run at the time - with Owen Farrell at no10, Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade in the centre and finished 19-7 winners.But impressed by George Ford who came on a sub, Jones switched the starting line-up for the final to Ford at no10 with Farrell and Slade in the centre. South Africa beat England 32-12. Ireland's rugby selection problems have included one humdinger from the past, dropping Lions prop Phil Orr in 1986, scapegoated for a loss in Paris, for a then unknown London Irish hooker Paul Kennedy. Two thrashings later Orr was restored.More recently there was Eddie O'Sullivan's baffling RWC 2007 decision to play his 'first' team in the opening game against Namibia and following 'only' winning 32-17 to play them again the following week against Georgia.Flogged, Ireland would be hammered by France and Argentina in the remaining pool games and fail to make the quarter-finals. This remains the only time Irland have failed to emerge from the pool stages at a Rugby World Cup.As it stands, the Leinster players have Sunday off, will train/review on Monday and most likely know the team themselves on Tuesday as they line out accordingly in training before having Wednesday off.Time is not on his side and, given the options, it will not be easy for Cullen.One poor game does not a bad player make - but should Prendrgast's France and Wales Six Nations games be factored in here?Some of Leinster's best passing at the line in any case comes from Jamison Gibson-Park. Witness the flat, lengthy, cut-out delivery that put Jamie Osborne in for his second try on Saturday.Cullen has previously indicated he does not, in any way shape or form, blame Ross Byrne on last season's lack of a trophy. He is a safe pair of hands, a better defender, less of an attacking threat, and a more reliable place-kicker.Consider this: The out-half did very, very well in the second-half when the pressure was on in the 2024/24 Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton at a packed Croke Park.Moreover, he played really well away at Bulls in March with Barrett outside him at no12 and where a rookie team lost 21-20 at Loftus Versfeld. A 77th minute penalty even gave Leinster the lead only for David Kriel to land an 85th minute winning penalty. Oh so close.There is Ciaran Frawley who, it should be noted, was brought in for Barrett just a short while before Byrne came on for Prendergast in the semi-final.Cullen may even be wishing he had seen more of Frawley at out-half this term but with the pressure on to play Prendergast, selection decisions, of necessity, sometimes end up eating themselves.PS for the curious: What of Barrett at no10? Not a runner actually as while he plays all the positions across the backs, he has only played one of his 170-odd senior games at out-half, an RWC 2029 pudding pool game for the All Blacks against Namibia.
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