It never hurts to impress the boss in any walk of life. Rugby is no different. Leo Cullen was asked to discuss the performance of Sam Prendergast, the official man of the match, in Leinster’s URC Grand Final win over the Bulls.
As is his wont in these matters, Cullen pulled on a few extraneous threads first, deflected, diffused and shared the plaudits among a multitude before returning to the question in hand. “Specifically with Sam, probably the moment that stands out to me most is his chase back when he goes down on that loose ball,” he said in reference to a try-saving intervention in the Leinster 22.
Cullen continued: “Because you look at the scoreline at the end, it looks like there’s a big gap between the two teams but that’s not the way the game played out. It was not like we were 30 points better than the Bulls. There were moments that we were able to take [chances] and there were moments where we were able to stop them scoring. It was a little bit of luck involved in that and a little bit of desire, commitment to the team.
“And that moment is probably the one that stands out for me the most. [With] the Bulls losing two guys to the bin, we are brave enough to play the space, especially the moment where [Prendergast] takes the line on and puts in that 50/22 kick. That’s just the sign of a great young player.
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“He’s had lots of experience now and is just getting better and better all the time. It’s been a great challenge with the 10s this year, they keep pushing each other on. It’s [about] learning from the mistakes, to be better, to get better for the next time you’re in a big game.”
Prendergast wasn’t on hand to hear his coach’s words but arrived after him into the media spotlight in the basement at Croke Park. An odd facial discolouration underlined the physical nature of the final. No one could fault the Leinster outhalf’s commitment to the rough and tumble.
He gently eased to one side some of the compliments parcelled in the form of a question, instead preferring to celebrate the team virtues. “I thought the way we played was one of our better performances,” he said. “It’s been two years now where we’ve really rallied towards the end of the season, when it’s not that easy in terms of our run of fixtures. I thought it was brilliant.
“The most important thing is just with the number of lads leaving, brilliant characters, that it’s hugely important to send them off on a good note, because maybe not last year, but years before that it’s been tough sending lads off when it’s not a winning season. It’s nice to get a trophy and be able to enjoy each other’s company now for the next few days and properly celebrate.”
When it was suggested to Prendergast that he had played well, the outhalf, much like his coach, went on a whistle-stop tour of his team-mates and their contributions before he suggested: “There were bits I was happy with [but] I still made loads of errors.
“I have a lot of good people around me in terms of coaches, players, a lot of the leaders within Leinster and Ireland are very good to listen to, and they would have been a huge help through some of those performances where I wasn’t playing the way I wanted to.”
The focus shifts to Ireland and the Nations Championship. The squad flew out on Monday morning. Prendergast has never been to Australia or New Zealand so that’ll be two more items off the bucket list. He heads there with a positive mindset and a spring in his step.
