SAM PRENDERGAST HAS picked up with Leinster where he left off with Ireland. The 21-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough international window with Ireland last month, earning his first Test caps and impressing across outings against Argentina, Fiji and Australia – starting two of Ireland’s four November fixtures.

The Kildare native is now part of an intriguing out-half battle with Jack Crowley which looks set to roll on across the weeks leading up to the 2025 Six Nations.

Prendergast and Crowley were both excellent as the provinces’ kicked-off their Champions Cup campaigns over the weekend. Crowley helped steer Munster to a comfortable 33-7 defeat of a depleted Stade Francis in Limerick, while Prendergast came alive in the second half of Leinster’s 35-12 win at Bristol Bears.

The Bristol game was Prendergast’s first start in the Champions Cup – not that you would have been able to tell. Leinster attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal admits he’s been encouraged by Prendergast’s rate of improvement this season.

“He’s definitely maturing probably beyond his years,” says Bleyendaal.

Leinster assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

“He obviously had some great moments on the ball and line breaks and tries. But you know, we had some difficult periods in the first half and you look back and you got a good result and you’re kind of grateful for having to go through some of that adversity and for him to be a part of that, and you have to solve problems along with the forwards or the other game drivers.

“It’s probably a good learning curve for him. I think he just enjoyed himself finding opportunity on the ball and trying to set the other players alight.”

Prendergast capped a fine performance with two well-taken tries – linking up nicely with Jordie Barrett to run in Leinster’s second try before using his pace to race home from an RG Snyman break.

“He’s really good at putting other players in space,” Bleyendaal continues.

He found himself in space himself and he backed himself, which is always great to see and I think the players around him appreciate that about him and it was just pleasing for him to get those rewards. He’s a very skilful passer and kicker and it’s always great when a team has to worry about your run through as well.”

Prendergast and Barrett worked well as a duo, and Bleyendaal is excited to see what the New Zealand international will add to the province over the coming months.

Bleyendaal previously worked with the All Black centre at the Hurricanes, so is well clued in to the qualities in Barrett’s game.

“He has a natural aura about him. He’s played for the All Blacks for a long time now. He’s achieved at a high level and you almost just place him in with other high achievers and high level players and they forever just learn off each other.

“Like, Jordie will be learning a lot (here). When we talk about what the players going to learn off him, he’ll be sitting there soaking in a lot of stuff from this environment, from the players that play international rugby and even the Academy guys coming through, just the way they do things. You learn and you appreciate different aspects.

“And similarly, I think they look at Jordan and go well, what a special talent. They wouldn’t have seen a lot of him in person, but I think quickly they’ll see how hard he works, how hard he works off the ball, his ability to communicate and, and make things easier for players around him.

A great player can always give time and space to guys around him and I think they’ll learn to just learn about him and how he plays and they’re going to start appreciating a few of those things.”

Barrett has stated that he feels he is best used at inside centre, with an ability to also cover fullback. Bleyendaal agrees.

“Definitely in the middle, he adds a lot of punch to your attack. He can get over the game line but he’s got subtleties to his skill set which puts other players in space.

“I don’t want to pigeonhole him into ‘he’s this player’ but the attributes he has, he can offer across, our system, but definitely probably most comfortable 12 at the minute.”

Barrett enjoyed an impactful Leinster debut on Sunday, coming off the bench at half-time to help turn a 7-7 grind into a 35-12 win. The New Zealander is primed to feature again when Leinster welcome Clermont Auvergne to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, and Bleyendaal feels Barrett quick impact is rooted in nailing his basics.

“The parts of the game he added to were quite simple where his decision making and his ability to run hard or use the skill sets were quite clear, and he just did them well and probably built confidence on that.

“He started getting his hands on the ball a lot and linking up with the other players in the back line a lot of the time.

“The game was a weird one. We worked hard the first half and we defended a lot. We probably expended a lot of energy, but so did Bristol and I think the guys in the second half were able to find some opportunity on the back of that title.”