Latest news with #Lions-in-waiting
Extra.ie
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Criticism and scrutiny of Sam Prendergast has gone too far
Leinster got their groove back on Saturday. A hapless Glasgow side – the defending champions, lest we forget – felt the full force of a vengeful team, which is on a mission to secure a first trophy for the province in four seasons. After all the recent criticism, virtually every player on the pitch delivered a top-class performance. Andrew Porter and Dan Sheehan looked like Test Lions-in-waiting, while Thomas Clarkson, who was filling in for the stricken Tadhg Furlong at tighthead, delivered arguably the most compelling performance of his fledgling career. Sam Prendergast. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile Joe McCarthy and James Ryan were ferocious on both sides of the ball. Again, both second rows are primed to have big summers with Andy Farrell's tourists in Australia. Ryan Baird went home with the player-of-the-match award after 80 minutes of relentless industry. Scott Penny showed up well. Jack Conan led from the front. Not bad for a backrow unit missing Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris. Jamison Gibson-Park was as sharp as ever. Jordie Barrett was rock solid. Jamie Osborne capped off a busy shift with a brace of tries. Tommy O'Brien and James Lowe brought heaps of energy. Jimmy O'Brien, filling in for the injured Hugo Keenan, caught the eye, too. Ronan Kelleher, RG Snyman, Max Deegan and Ciaran Frawley brought energy from the bench while Ross Byrne delivered his customary calm and poise when he entered the fray. Jordie Barrett Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile There was one outlier in an otherwise dominant display from the hosts. Sam Prendergast didn't have his best outing. Once again, the young Leinster out-half delivered a mixed performance. Yes, Leinster's attack hummed and fizzed with intent all afternoon. The hosts crossed for six tries and had two more chalked off by TMO interventions. If anything, the 37-19 scoreline flattered the Scots in the end. It could have even been greater if Prendergast didn't have such an off-day with the kicking tee, missing four conversions, a penalty and a drop-goal during an unconvincing shift. Once again, Prendergast's defence was suspect at key moments. None of this is new. And, ahead of Saturday's URC Grand Final against a physically imposing Bulls side, there is a genuine case to be made for Byrne or Frawley to wear the No10 jersey. Leo Cullen. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile It's doubtful that Leo Cullen will make such a radical change at this stage. The Leinster supremo has backed Prendergast as playmaker-in-chief all season. It would be a radical move to bench his first-choice out-half in the week of such a pivotal game. No doubt, there will be plenty of scrutiny about Prendergast's performance against Glasgow in the coming days. It's been the same story all season. You'd wonder if the Kildare native is a bit worn down from constantly being under this rugby-shaped microscope. At the end of the day, this is the reality of being a professional rugby player in this country. No player should be immune from critical analysis. When it comes to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Prendergast's game, however, a lot of the criticism has crossed the line. It's worth pointing out that Prendergast is still only 22 and this is essentially his first full season at the top level. He only made his international debut in November, as a second-half replacement against Argentina, and has gone on to win a further seven caps for his country. For context, Johnny Sexton made his Test bow at age 24. Prendergast has been learning on the job. His development was accelerated by Andy Farrell who saw immense potential in a player who spearheaded a talented Ireland U20s team which made a Junior World Cup final in the summer of 2023. Sam Prendergast. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile The Ireland head coach brought Prendergast into the national setup despite the fact that he was behind the Byrne brothers and Frawley in the Leinster pecking order. The penny seemed to drop with Cullen, with the Leinster boss turning to Prendergast to lead Leinster in this campaign. Prendergast started his first Champions Cup game (against Bristol) and his first interpro (against Munster) in December. He started four straight Six Nations games before making way for Jack Crowley ahead of the final-round clash with Italy in Rome. It's been a meteoric rise for such a young player in such a pivotal position. And the outside noise has been deafening at times. Prendergast has been love-bombed by certain commentators and loathed by others. Not so long ago, some observers – including some former Lions and prominent pundits – were installing Prendergast as the leading contender to wear the No10 shirt against Joe Schmidt's Wallabies this summer. Meanwhile, there has been some vitriolic criticism of Prendergast across social media, particularly from a cohort of Munster supporters who feel that Crowley had been unfairly usurped as Ireland's first-choice No10. Said fans have been angered by the so-called 'Leinsterification' of the national team. Both viewpoints have been extreme and unwarranted. Prendergast is far from the finished article. He isn't physically or mentally ready to boss a Lions Test series. But he doesn't deserve to be ridiculed by faceless fan accounts on social media either. Jack Crowley. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan A video mocking Prendergast's attempted tackle on Henry Pollock began to do the rounds across WhatsApp in the days after Leinster's Champions Cup semi-final defeat against Northampton. It was cheap and mean spirited. We're veering into cyberbullying territory. We're not talking about a seasoned Test veteran here. This is a young man who has been thrown in at the deep end because his province felt he had the highest ceiling among a stable of talented out-halves while the international management felt he was a player who could have a major impact at the 2027 World Cup, and beyond. You'd hope that all is this outside noise hasn't had any lasting effects on Prendergast. In November 2023, England legend Owen Farrell announced he would be giving the 2024 Six Nations a swerve to 'prioritise his and his family's wellbeing.' Farrell subsequently signed for Racing 92 and hasn't been seen in an England shirt since. Just like Prendergast, the 33-year-old has been a lightning rod for online barbs and relentless scrutiny. Farrell voted with his feet. He had enough of all the negativity. He wasn't enjoying it anymore. You'd hate to think that Prendergast would feel compelled to do something similar. He doesn't look like someone whose enjoying all this attention at the moment. Maybe it's time for people to give the kid a break.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Lions distractions have been addressed - Leo Cullen says Leinster fully focussed
It's the end of the season and nowhere near the end of the season. Come 5pm today, or next Saturday evening, club duties will be all wrapped up but, for a sizeable 12 of the Leinster contingent, it will be another eight weeks before they can put their feet up. That's the current tally of Lions-in-waiting that Leo Cullen has to deal with for, hopefully, the next seven days. Today's squad for the semi-final of the BKT URC against Glasgow has eight, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe and Rónan Kelleher. Staying on ice for the moment are Josh van der Flier (hamstring), Tadhg Furlong (calf), Hugo Keenan (calf) and Garry Ringrose (calf). It's a month since Andy Farrell named his squad and it would be impossible for any of the tourists to completely park the buzz that comes with the thoughts of representing the Lions; 10 of the 12 are first-time Lions, albeit Porter and Kelleher were part of the 2021 entourage without playing. But the closing stages of the URC fall into that grey zone between the hurt and devastation of the Champions Cup semi-final and the prestige of the trip to Australia, and for others, Ireland's summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal. Leaving the blowout against a quarter-hearted Zebre aside, the performances of the team in wins over Glasgow and Scarlets have been widely criticised; Leinster just don't look themselves. Balls are dropping, unnecessary passes are attempted, discipline is poor and the much-vaunted defence is being breached. They might just be trying too hard but, as Cullen said last weekend, this shouldn't be a "drudge". He was asked if he felt the Lions factor wasn't playing on the minds of his stars, some of whom are unlikely to tour again and 11 of whom already have URC medals, or iterations of, in their back pockets. "It was addressed and we moved forward and everyone is focussed," the head coach told RTÉ Sport. Did he feel it had to be? "Well, I just think it is one of those things, there is all sorts of distractions, it is not specific to that, there is other things that are going on at the moment. "There was an Irish squad picked the middle of this week as well. "There is all those things there as well but we just need to stay focussed on what we need to focus on. "At this time of year it's putting in a big performance for lots of reasons. "Every player out there will have something else that will be motivating so we have been well supported over the year and we want to put in that performance in a home game. "It will be the last game in the Aviva with Leinster regardless of what happens, so we will try and do everything we can to keep the season alive for another week." After urging fans to get onboard, to get excited about knockout rugby and the prospect of a first trophy since 2021, Cullen (above) could have done without the weather gods going against him, too. It's set to be a wet day in Dublin and, as of early yesterday afternoon, ticket sales were closing in on 15,000. The Wicklow man, in charge at the club since 2015, says he hopes the team are able to put in action the lessons learned from the scrappy 33-21 win over Scarlets, and more importantly, the 37-34 loss to Northampton. The 47 year-old said: "There's a little bit around the conditions as well. "If you think there was a fair old downpour leading into the [Scarlets] game and even at half-time as well, and there's rain due [today]. "You've got to be able to manage some of that at this time of year, because the games are different. "It's knockout games, particularly the way teams come and play against us. They're not playing a huge amount of multi-phase rugby, strong kicking games. "You have to be able to adapt on the day. But the conditions play a big part for sure. We didn't have a dry day last week. "You'd certainly hope [we've learned our lessons], particularly when you get burned by an occasion, for sure, because we've had positive play-off games where we've racked up big scores on dry days and conceded no points but it didn't ultimately help. "So, you'd prefer two 6-3 wins if it meant you were going to win semi-finals. "There's always a bit of learnings that go on there but none of us know exactly what way it will unfold. "That's the pressure of knockout games."
