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Mike Prendergast: 'Guys will listen to Craig Casey because he's incredibly dilligent'
Being a former scrum-half, and a current Munster coach, Ireland's attack coach could be expected to give a biased assessment of Craig Casey's credentials as the national side's captain for the upcoming two Tests in Georgia and Portugal.
Yet the growth witnessed at first hand in his fellow Limerick man's game and leadership presence, both on the pitch and at their province's High Performance Centre, over the last two seasons gives Mike Prendergast a uniquely informed perspective on which to inform his optimism that the 26-year-old will prove to be an excellent choice by tour head coach Paul O'Connell to captain his country.
Casey's emergence as a frontline number nine for Munster has softened the blow that the departure of Test centurion Conor Murray for an overseas swansong next season might otherwise have been felt and a strong tour under O'Connell and in the absence of British & Irish Lions tourist Jamison Gibson-Park should confirm him as the heir apparent to the Ireland starting scrum-half berth.
For now, though, as Ireland continue their preparations at the IRFU HPC in west Dublin for next week's trip to Tbilisi and the July 5 Test against Georgia, the Irish assistant — one of four Munster-born coaches in camp alongside O'Connell, defence coach Denis Leamy and Connacht's scrum coach Collie Tucker — has been impressed by Casey's development to this point.
'I just think the more exposure, the more game time he played, you could see his calmness was coming into the game,' Prendergast said.
'Technically, he's a very, very good nine. He's got a very good kicking game. He's got a very good passing game. His ability to, when we want to play a high-tempo game, we talk about our nines being stuck to the ruck. I think in terms of his fitness, playing at that level week in, week out, he's made nice steps forward as a player.
'Obviously, his professionalism and his leadership and everything is always growing. I think just overall, his calmness and his ability in terms of his decision-making is really pushing on. He's turning out to be a fine scrum-half at the moment.'
What has not changed in Casey, though, has been his approach since coming into the latest Ireland camp ahead of Test cap number 19 on Saturday week.
'I don't think I've seen anything different in the last few days, no, for us with Munster,' Prendergast said. 'He would be one of our leaders. He's full of energy. He's a student of the game.
'His leadership, guys will listen because he's a guy who is incredibly diligent. He's all over his stuff and you always want people to follow that. So he hasn't been any different than what he would be down in Munster.
Craig Casey was appointed Ireland captain by Paul O'Connell. Picture: Ben Brady/Inpho
'Obviously through the week and through next week that will ramp up from his point of view, I would imagine. But he brings a really good calmness to people as well. It's great to have him as one, within the squad and two, as a captain. So he has all the leadership qualities that you ask for from a person.'
Casey is one of six Munster players whose last game time will have come five weeks before the Georgian Test.
The seven Ulster players and six Connacht men will have had an extra week off given their URC campaigns ended with the last round of the regular season while the 12-strong Leinster contingent will be a mere three weeks out from the URC Grand Final success over the Bulls at Croke Park.
The newly-minted title-winners in the group rolled into camp as champions a week after the rest of the squad gathered but Prendergast is confident their efforts to catch-up have been accomplished.
'Fortunately enough, we had a couple of weeks as a staff. Our URC, in Munster was finished, so we had a bit of downtime. We were able to connect and meet up and obviously plan as much as we could for when we came in. And then, obviously, we came in on Thursday and we came in in a full group.
'The Leinster boys obviously didn't have too much time off, but they have a good pep in their step after winning the competition. So, there's good hunger, there's a good will around the place, there's a good vibe around the place, and we're really looking forward to these two games.
Nor does the attack coach believe rustiness will be a factor in Tibilisi and that the objective of squad cohesion has already been achieved in order to hit the ground running on July 5.
'I think they will because they're been given an opportunity to play with their country. There's some guys obviously that have a number of caps, but there's a lot of guys here that aren't capped. There's some guys with a few caps to their names.
'So, any time you get an opportunity to go and represent your country, especially where the Irish team are in terms of standing in world rugby, I think it's a huge honour for all of us players, for all of us coaches to represent your country.
'You can see the hunger out of all the lads there, and rightly so, because it's a great honour and you're representing your country in two Test matches potentially.'
Prendergast also provided an update on Calvin Nash's fitness. The Six Nations-winning wing, capped 10 times by Ireland, brought an ankle injury into camp last Thursday but the Ireland assistant said: 'Calvin was limited, he returned to training today (Tuesday) so we had a full deck to choose from.
'Fortunately all our lads have come in in good shape and raring to go.'
