SAM PRENDERGAST DESCRIBED his Six Nations debut as “mixed” and smiled when he was asked for his favourite moment from a tough hour’s work.
“Winning, yeah,” Prendergast said. “That’s all that really matters. Winning is the most important thing about today.”
Prendergast certainly showed glimpses of his quality during Ireland’s 27-22, bonus-point success over Steve Borthwick’s side. His passing range is exquisite and helped to pick the lock of a stern English defence on several occasions.
But for every up, there was a down. The 21-year-old had a poor conversion miss following Jamison Gibson-Park’s try and an attempted spiral bomb early in the game was one of the kicks from hand that got away from him, giving Marcus Smith and England prime real estate to build a try-scoring attack for Cadan Murley.
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“There were a couple in the first half which weren’t accurate enough, gave them space and time, and you cannot give them space and time at this high level,” Prendergast said. “You cannot do that and that was disappointing. But then I thought I had a few good ones as well. But you need to be more consistent with them if you want to be playing at this level.
“In terms of conversions, at the time you’re not thinking of the two missed ones. It‘s frustrating — shouldn’t have missed them, especially that one on the 15. You shouldn’t be missing them.”
Prendergast certainly wasn’t down in the dumps following his performance, however, acknowledging the steel he showed to nail the penalty that gave Ireland their first lead — 13-10 — following his two previous misses.
Indeed, that Ireland put him up for media at all is testament to their belief in him as a youngfella who can handle himself, and the Kildare youngster dealt with questions with the casualness of a player 10 years his senior.
It’s unlikely, it seems, that we’ll see Sam Prendergast especially stressed any time soon, although the out-half himself isn’t sure.
“I don’t know if I was calm for the whole game, or if I was calm in the build-up. It’s hard to know what vibe I’m giving off,” he smiled. “At times, I get a little bit flustered. It’s a high-contact sport with quite a lot of moving parts. It’s pretty impossible to stay calm at all times.”
By extension, Prendergast wasn’t shy in questioning the merit of the new 60-second shot clock for conversions, which he admitted “takes getting used to”.
“A penalty is 60 seconds and that feels you have a lot more time,” he said. “On a conversion, it can seem quicker. I’ve seen a lot of players rush. And I’m not too sure when it was 90 seconds if there was too much time-wasting, to be honest. I don’t know, it feels very quick off the back of a try.
“You have to get used to it, learn from it and practice as if it was 60 seconds and learn to nail the kick.”
On to Scotland week, and the out-halves’ respective performances in the pivot are bound to lead to another week of discourse about Prendergast and Jack Crowley, and whether the complexion of their battle has changed heading to Murrayfield.
That remains to be seen, but Prendergast was again more than comfortable to speak on the topic, describing how things inside camp can often be very different to external perceptions.
Tens have no choice but to stick together, for example, and that’s absolutely fine with Prendergast, who enjoys the company of Crowley and their fellow contender for the 10 jersey, Ciarán Frawley.
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“The only pressure I feel is what’s inside the group and inside me. Obviously you want to be the starting 10 for Ireland and Leinster but I wouldn’t be listening to too much outside noise on the pressure of that. It’s internal pressure.
“You want to be starting but there is not too much of a rivalry between us. We work together quite well.
Me and Jack get along very well but there is also Frawls who we get on very well with, also. Tens do a lot of kicking together and when there’s an off day and there’s only the three of us kicking, it’d be a bit awkward if we didn’t get on: we travel in the same car to and from kicking!
“We give ideas to each other in training or in meetings. It’s good to learn off each other. There are only so many reps in training — you’d love to have infinite reps. So you learn from their experiences of certain plays, so that’s helpful.”
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'It'd be a bit awkward if we didn’t get on: we travel in the same car to and from kicking'
SAM PRENDERGAST DESCRIBED his Six Nations debut as “mixed” and smiled when he was asked for his favourite moment from a tough hour’s work.
“Winning, yeah,” Prendergast said. “That’s all that really matters. Winning is the most important thing about today.”
Prendergast certainly showed glimpses of his quality during Ireland’s 27-22, bonus-point success over Steve Borthwick’s side. His passing range is exquisite and helped to pick the lock of a stern English defence on several occasions.
But for every up, there was a down. The 21-year-old had a poor conversion miss following Jamison Gibson-Park’s try and an attempted spiral bomb early in the game was one of the kicks from hand that got away from him, giving Marcus Smith and England prime real estate to build a try-scoring attack for Cadan Murley.
“There were a couple in the first half which weren’t accurate enough, gave them space and time, and you cannot give them space and time at this high level,” Prendergast said. “You cannot do that and that was disappointing. But then I thought I had a few good ones as well. But you need to be more consistent with them if you want to be playing at this level.
“In terms of conversions, at the time you’re not thinking of the two missed ones. It‘s frustrating — shouldn’t have missed them, especially that one on the 15. You shouldn’t be missing them.”
Prendergast certainly wasn’t down in the dumps following his performance, however, acknowledging the steel he showed to nail the penalty that gave Ireland their first lead — 13-10 — following his two previous misses.
Indeed, that Ireland put him up for media at all is testament to their belief in him as a youngfella who can handle himself, and the Kildare youngster dealt with questions with the casualness of a player 10 years his senior.
It’s unlikely, it seems, that we’ll see Sam Prendergast especially stressed any time soon, although the out-half himself isn’t sure.
“I don’t know if I was calm for the whole game, or if I was calm in the build-up. It’s hard to know what vibe I’m giving off,” he smiled. “At times, I get a little bit flustered. It’s a high-contact sport with quite a lot of moving parts. It’s pretty impossible to stay calm at all times.”
By extension, Prendergast wasn’t shy in questioning the merit of the new 60-second shot clock for conversions, which he admitted “takes getting used to”.
“A penalty is 60 seconds and that feels you have a lot more time,” he said. “On a conversion, it can seem quicker. I’ve seen a lot of players rush. And I’m not too sure when it was 90 seconds if there was too much time-wasting, to be honest. I don’t know, it feels very quick off the back of a try.
“You have to get used to it, learn from it and practice as if it was 60 seconds and learn to nail the kick.”
On to Scotland week, and the out-halves’ respective performances in the pivot are bound to lead to another week of discourse about Prendergast and Jack Crowley, and whether the complexion of their battle has changed heading to Murrayfield.
That remains to be seen, but Prendergast was again more than comfortable to speak on the topic, describing how things inside camp can often be very different to external perceptions.
Tens have no choice but to stick together, for example, and that’s absolutely fine with Prendergast, who enjoys the company of Crowley and their fellow contender for the 10 jersey, Ciarán Frawley.
“The only pressure I feel is what’s inside the group and inside me. Obviously you want to be the starting 10 for Ireland and Leinster but I wouldn’t be listening to too much outside noise on the pressure of that. It’s internal pressure.
“You want to be starting but there is not too much of a rivalry between us. We work together quite well.
“We give ideas to each other in training or in meetings. It’s good to learn off each other. There are only so many reps in training — you’d love to have infinite reps. So you learn from their experiences of certain plays, so that’s helpful.”
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