Ireland great’s ‘weights doesn’t fix that’ verdict on Sam Prendergast’s ‘really bad trait’
Sam Prendergast's latest tackle gaffe has drawn the ire of Luke Fitzgerald, inset
Former Ireland international Luke Fitzgerald has delivered a withering putdown of the tackle-shy Sam Prendergast following his latest on-field defensive mishap.
Having been roundly criticised for a porous effort in defence when introduced in the latter stages of Leinster’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulon, Prendergast was a starter last weekend in the Irish side’s victory over the Lions in the United Rugby Championship and there was again criticism about what he produced.
Against Toulon, Leinster saw a 29-11 lead shrivel to 29-25, a late scare that included Prendergast falling off a tackle on the try-scoring Gael Drean. He fell off another tackle last weekend when bounced by the try-scoring Siba Mahashe. While he was ultimately reprieved for that error as the score was disallowed for an earlier ruck infringement, Fitzgerald is struggling to see a place for Prendergast in the long term if he doesn’t fix his poor tackle technique.
It’s a curiosity that a club that has the services of Jacques Nienaber, the 2019 South African World Cup-winning defence coach who won the title again in 2023 as head coach before moving to Leinster, is struggling to upskill Prendergast in defence.
“That tells you everything…”
Having made his way back into Andy Farrell’s starting line-up last November, he was jettisoned after two rounds of the Six Nations, and his poor run has since continued with Leinster where Harry Byrne has taken the No.10 shirt from him for the big Champions Cup matches.
Leinster have strived to keep him involved, naming him on their bench for fixtures like the semi-final versus Toulon, but this involvement hasn’t boosted his confidence. Instead, it has only added to the concern that Ciaran Frawley needs to be selected as cover for Byrne, not Prendergast, for next weekend’s Champions Cup final against Bordeaux in Bilbao.
Leinster’s latest URC team selection – against Ospreys this Saturday in Dublin – has Byrne listed at No.10 with Frawley named as back-up fly-half. That’s a change that Fitzgerald will likely agree with after his latest examination of Prendergast’s defensive liabilities.
Speaking on The Left Wing podcast, the 2009 Six Nations Grand Slam winner with Ireland highlighted Prendergast’s botched attempted tackle on Mahashe. “That tells you everything,” he said about a still image he sent to one of his fellow show presenters from the mismatched collision.
“No weights are going to fix that. No weights are going to fix you putting your arms together like that when you are about to tackle someone for the disallowed try. I don’t know.
“It’s his head, it’s not his body. I fecking hate this; this is awful. I hate being in this position every week, but you leave me with no choice. I have to say what I see. I look back at that incident and said, ‘That’s weird how that collision happened’.
“I slowed it down to the point of contact, and he [Prendergast] has got his arms together and looking away. I was like, ‘This is rugby. You have to enjoy contact otherwise you are never going to be the person to bring Leinster back to the top table, to the top of the European game’. It’s disappointing and I’m just getting more and more worried about it.
“I made a point about Luke McGrath; Luke McGrath is 5ft 7 or 8 and he is not a big guy but look at how he puts himself about, he wants it. If you want to be a winner, you have got to put yourself on the line. I just think there is no place for it in rugby; you cannot hide. You can’t hide someone like that [Prendergast]; they will just always let you down.
“I hope I’m wrong. Honestly, I swear to God I hope I’m wrong; I’m taking zero pleasure out of any of this, a young guy coming through, but it is a really bad trait [his missed tackles].
“I really didn’t like it when I saw it initially, and I was kind of reserved. But now every time I see it, I made a commitment during the year that every time I saw something like I saw on the weekend, I’m calling it out for what it is.
“I have my reservations about fixing it… I have played at a high level, and I’ve seen these guys come and go. Weights doesn’t fix that. There are some things weights can fix, but there are some they can’t. You’ve got to want it; you’ve got to want to be a winner. I’m very worried about him.”
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That worry extended to what it has done for Leinster. In backing Prendergast as their long-term guy, Frawley, whose appearance off the bench against the Lions transformed a nervous 14-7 lead into a 31-7 win, has opted to join Connacht next season.
“It looks to me like it’s a massive mistake in terms of Frawley, moving him on,” suggested Fitzgerald, the 2009 British and Irish Lions Test series pick. “They should have done whatever they needed to do to keep him, and they have made a few mistakes by not picking him.
“Like not picking him on the weekend to start (against the Lions) was a mistake, and not picking to play against Ulster was also a mistake or Benetton. They should have played him from the start in one of those games. They have left themselves in quite a risky position coming into that final.
“I don’t know, I just don’t get why, I’m not seeing the coaches’ vantage point. I know they are seeing him [Prendergast] in training, but remember training is not contact for most of the time.
“The most important thing is he has got plenty of opportunities in matches and that is where you see what someone is really about, not in training. I don’t know. I hate it. I feel awful. My heart’s dropped, I’m actually hating this, but I just have to say it. We have listeners, and I have to be honest. So that’s it. Sorry.”
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