EDINBURGH : A lively debate in recent weeks over the respective merits of Ireland’s two aspirant flyhalves tilted heavily in youthful Sam Prendergast’s favour after a man of the match performance in the Six Nations on Sunday.
The lanky 21-year-old has been pitted against Jack Crowley in the battle to take over Jonny Sexton’s mantle as pivot of the Irish team but successive starts for Prendergast see him now emerging as first choice.
He was at the heart of Sunday’s impressive 32-18 win over Scotland at Murrayfield that kept the Irish on course for a Grand Slam and capped a full 80 minutes on the pitch with the man of the match award.
Prendergast kicked over two penalties and three conversions, missing only one kick, in a much-improved performance off the tee but what really impressed was his effortless control of the game, his first for Ireland on foreign soil.
“Playing in a different game away from home, he delivered not only in terms of mixing his game, attacking the line, his kicking game, but also off the tee, he was excellent,” purred coach Simon Easterby at his post-match press conference.
“It allowed us to keep staying ahead and keep pushing out the scoreline, which on some other days it’s tighter than it needs to be, but I thought Sam was excellent. He was good across his game, both in attack and defence.”
Prendergast delivered a quick-thinking whipped long pass to Calvin Nash on the wing to get Ireland on the scoreboard after eight minutes and ran the line cleverly thereafter, almost as if in cruise control.
WORLD CLASS
“I’m playing in one of the best teams in the world. When I look at the backs outside me, the help I get, there’s world class backs in that backline, it’s a lot easier and in terms of the forwards, the go-forward they’re giving us … it’s unbelievable to be a part of,” Prendergast told reporters afterwards.
“We felt good in the first half. They got a few, not lucky breaks, but a few things went their way to get down our end and I think we did well to not concede tries off the back of it.”
He was also pleased with his kicking.
“I felt pretty confident kicking in the warmup. I wanted to do better than I did last week, I was more used to the shot-clock, it was good.”
After Sexton’s retirement at the 2023 World Cup, Crowley was anointed his successor and helped Ireland to last year’s Six Nations title.
But in the autumn internationals, with Andy Farrell still in charge, Crowley and Prendergast started two tests each – sparking lively discussion over their respective merits.
Easterby, who is standing in for Farrell while he prepares for this year’s British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, has however seemingly made his choice.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
