'Flustered' Prendergast in 'system where decisions are all made for him'

Former England, and British and Irish Lions scrum-half Ben Youngs believes Leinster and Ireland fly-half Sam Prendergast is “not ready” to make a Lions tour, with Andy Farrell set to name his squad this week.

The 22-year-old endured a difficult afternoon at the Aviva Stadium as Leinster were upset by Northampton Saints in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final on Saturday.

While Prendergast’s defence has been under the microscope in the wake of the loss, Youngs, speaking on his For the Love of Rugby podcast, also questioned the Irishman’s game management.

The Leicester Tigers No.9 did assert that the Leinster star will have a “very strong chance” of making the Lions squad in four years, but said Saints fly-half Fin Smith “was by far the better player” in Dublin.

“I’ve said it before about Prendergast,” Youngs said. “Against France for Ireland he was on the back foot and he looked like he had no idea how to manage that, how to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and figure it out. I saw it again at the weekend.

“He didn’t know, he didn’t have the answers. He suddenly started doing counter-attack and shifting it when it was still a tight game.

“He just looked flustered. He didn’t look like he knew how to drag Leinster back into the game.

“When I think about the tens that are available – Finn Russells, Marcus Smiths, Fin Smiths, your George Fords – you slot them in that Leinster team, can you imagine how good they would look? That, for me, is enough. You put Prendergast in some of those other teams that those guys are playing, where they haven’t got the luxury of a full international team, he doesn’t get anywhere near them.

“I’ve seen enough to suggest, in my opinion, that he is not ready yet for the tour that is coming up.”

“If you look at Prendergast and you look at where he falls short in some areas of his game, it’s the physical part of it. Teams seem to be getting momentum around him. He’s falling off tackles, they’re getting speed of ball in and around him.

“It’s like he is just playing in this system where decisions are all made for him. There isn’t this ‘well this isn’t working right not, Saints are dominating us, we’re chasing the game and this is how the game needs to be won’.

“He strikes me as someone who’s been told ‘in this area of the field you do this, in this shape you do that, then you do this, then you do that.'”

Youngs also questioned the decision to leave All Black Jordie Barrett on the bench for a game of such magnitude.

Barrett only featured for the final 30 minutes of the match as Leinster chased the game- a decision that baffled Youngs and his co-host Dan Cole.

He added: “You’ve bought him on the base of one thing- it’s going to win Europe, something they’ve haven’t been able to do since 2018. That’s why you’re getting him, and you’re benching him.

“We have Handre Pollard at our place as our marquee player at Leicester and it’s like getting to a semi-final in the Premiership and putting him on the bench.

“If you’re bringing Rieko Ioane next season, which they are, you get to a semi-final and you bench him? What’s the point of bringing him in? You don’t really bring him in to play the URC because Leinster can pick their second or third team and they’ll still be in the top four for the URC.

“You’re bringing them in to win Europe and then you don’t pick them. It astonishes me.”